ABSTRACT

Massive binary black holes are expected to form in the nuclei of galaxies as a result of mergers between galaxies containing massive black holes. Evolutionary schemes (e.g. Roos 1988) where a galaxy merger leads to rapid evolution of a pre-existing wide binary towards a close binary predict that most binary black holes will be either wide (in a more or less undisturbed mode) or narrow (in a rather rapidly evolving stage). A nice example of a massive binary in such a rapidly evolving stage may have been found recently in the quasar 1928+738, where the observed wiggles in radio jets of this superluminal quasar could be interpreted as due to modulation of the jet velocity by the orbital motion of the binary (Roos, Kaastra, and Hummel 1993) We are doing numerical simulations of the (restricted) three body problem in order to study the evolution and accretion rate of massive binary black holes. Some results are presented.

SIMULATIONS

We are performing numerical simulations of the three body interactions between massive binaries with stars drawn randomly from a stellar cusp distribution around the holes. The equations of motion are solved using a pulsating-rotating coordinate system in which the binary is at rest (Szebehely 1967). The changes in orbital parameters of the binary are deduced from the change in energy and angular momentum of the star.