Black hole binaries and light fields: Gravitational molecules
Taishi Ikeda, Laura Bernard, Vítor Cardoso, Miguel Zilhão
Abstract
We show that light scalars can form quasibound states around binaries. In the nonrelativistic regime, these states are formally described by the quantum-mechanical Schr\"odinger equation for a one-electron heteronuclear diatomic molecule. We performed extensive numerical simulations of scalar fields around black hole binaries, showing that a scalar structure condenses around the binary---we dub these states ``gravitational molecules.'' We further show that these are well described by the perturbative, nonrelativistic description.
Topics & Concepts
PhysicsScalar (mathematics)Heteronuclear moleculeDiatomic moleculeGravitationBlack hole (networking)QuantumBinary numberClassical mechanicsQuantum mechanicsMoleculeGeometryComputer scienceRouting (electronic design automation)Computer networkRouting protocolLink-state routing protocolMathematicsArithmeticPulsars and Gravitational Waves ResearchCosmology and Gravitation TheoriesCold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates