Programme

O.7 -- Oral, VCTP-50

Date: Tuesday, 5 August 2025

Time: 11:35 - 12:00

Gravitational-Wave Signatures of the Kozai-Lidov Effect

Lott Peter Tell (1), Nguyen Quynh Lan (1), Li Gongjie

(1) Phenikaa University; (2) Georgia Tech

Gravitational-wave astronomy has provided a unique probe into the dynamics of globular clusters, active galactic nuclei, and few-body gravitationally interacting systems. While binary systems are a prevalent source of gravitational waves in ground-based interferometers, such systems could also be perturbed by the presence of a distant, third body, i.e. a supermassive black hole. Over secular timescales (i.e. timescales larger than the orbital period of the binary), the gravitational interaction of the binary with the third body may lead to orbital resonances. One such resonance, known as the Kozai mechanism, causes an oscillation between the values of the binary’s eccentricity and its inclination with respect to the third body, driving the initially circular binary to arbitrarily high eccentricities at low inclinations. Such eccentricities result in close encounters near periapsis, with GW bursts particularly relevant for ground-based detectors. In this presentation, I focus on the Kozai mechanism in the hierarchical triple body system within the context of gravitational wave astronomy, producing gravitational-wave templates in cases that may be detectable by future detectors, and speculate on the event rate of these kinds of systems.

Presenter: Lott Peter Tell