Tidal Disruptions of Stars by Binary Black Holes: Modifying the Spin Magnitudes and Directions of LIGO Sources in Dense Stellar Environments

Understand

Binary black holes (BBHs) appear to be widespread and are able to merge through the emission of gravitational waves, as recently illustrated by LIGO.

• The spin of the BBHs is one of the parameters that LIGO can infer from the gravitational wave signal and can be used to constrain their production site.
• If BBHs are assembled in stellar clusters they are likely to interact with stars, which could occasionally lead to a tidal disruption event (TDE).
• When a BBH tidally disrupts a star it can accrete a significant fraction of the debris, effectively altering the spins of the BHs.