Black hole merger simulations in wave dark matter environments

Understand

The interaction of binary black hole mergers with their environments can be studied using numerical relativity simulations.

• These start only a short finite time before merger, at which point appropriate initial conditions must be imposed.
• A key task is therefore to identify the configuration that is appropriate for the binary and its environment at this stage of the evolution.
• In this work we study the behaviour of wave dark matter around equal mass black hole binaries, finding that there is a preferred, quasi-stationary profile that persists and grows over multiple orbits, in contrast to heavier mass dark matter where any overdensity tends to be dispersed by the binary motion.