Understand
One of the most promising gravitational wave (GW) sources detectable by the forthcoming LISA observatory are the so-called extreme-mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs), i.e.
- GW-driven inspirals of stellar-mass compact objects onto supermassive black holes (SMBHs).
- In this paper, we suggest that supernova (SN) kicks may trigger EMRIs in galactic nuclei by scattering newborn stellar black holes and neutron stars on extremely eccentric orbits; as a consequence, the time-scale over which these compact objects are expected to inspiral onto the central SMBH via GW emission may become shorter than the time-scale for other orbital perturbations to occur.
- By applying this argument to the Galactic Centre, we show that the S-cluster and the clockwise disc are optimal regions for the generation of such events: one SN out of about 10 000 (100 000) occurring in the S-cluster (clockwise disc) is expected to induce an EMRI.