Strong-gravity precession resonances for binary systems orbiting a Schwarzschild black hole
Binary systems of compact objects in close orbit around a supermassive black hole (SMBH) may form in galactic nuclei, providing a unique environment to probe strong-gravity tidal effects on the binary's dynamics. In this work, we investigate precession resonances arising between the periastron precession frequency of a binary system and its orbital frequencies around the SMBH. By modeling the SMBH as a Schwarzschild black hole, we find that relativistic effects in the tidal field give rise to a significantly richer resonance spectrum compared to the Newtonian case. This result is supported by both perturbative and numerical analyses of the quadrupolar tidal interaction in the strong-gravity regime. Our results reveal new signatures for strong-gravity effects in such triple systems, with potential implications for gravitational-wave astronomy.
Authors
- Marta Orselli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3563-8576)
- Daniele Pica (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7819-7785)
- Troels Harmark (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2795-7035)
- G. Grignani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3998-0750)
- Marta Cocco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9720-369X)
Institutions
- Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics (SE)
- University of Perugia (IT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Perugia (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
- Published
- 2025-07-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/l542-s32g
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.62
Funders
- Dipartimenti di Eccellenza
- National Research Foundation
- Danmarks Grundforskningsfond
- Università degli Studi di Perugia
- Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca