Constraining accretion physics with gravitational waves from eccentric extreme-mass-ratio inspirals

Duque, Francisco; Kejriwal, Shubham; Sberna, Laura; Speri, Lorenzo; Gair, Jonathan

Abstract

We study the evolution of eccentric, equatorial extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) immersed in the accretion disks of active galactic nuclei. We find that single gravitational-wave observations from these systems could provide measurements with ∼10% relative precision of, simultaneously, the disk viscosity and mass accretion rate of the central supermassive black hole. This is possible when the EMRI transitions, within the observation time, from supersonic to subsonic motion relative to the disk gas, for eccentricities 𝑒 ≳0.025–0.1. The estimate of the accretion rate would assist in the identification of the EMRI’s host galaxy, or the observation of a direct electromagnetic counterpart, improving the chances of using these sources as cosmological sirens. Our work highlights the rich phenomenology of binary evolution in astrophysical environments and the need to improve the modeling and analysis of these systems for future gravitational-wave astronomy.

Citation

Duque, F., Kejriwal, S., Sberna, L., Speri, L., & Gair, J. (2025). Constraining accretion physics with gravitational waves from eccentric extreme-mass-ratio inspirals. Physical Review D, 111(8), Article 084006. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.111.084006

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 10, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Apr 3, 2025
• Publication Date: Apr 15, 2025
• Deposit Date: Apr 8, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 9, 2025
• Journal: Physical Review D
• Print ISSN: 2470-0010
• Electronic ISSN: 2470-0029
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 111
• Issue: 8
• Article Number: 084006
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.111.084006
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/47551347
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.111.084006#