4 ms·
So the question isn't how they merge, but how they do it so quickly.
by Salgat 2y ago
So the question isn't how they merge, but how they do it so quickly.
- antognini 2y agoYes, dynamical friction can "quickly" (on the order of 100 Myr) bring the two black holes to a distance of ~1 pc to each other. Gravitational wave radiation can "quickly" cause a merger if they are within a bit less than ~0.1 pc of each other. But how they go from 1 to 0.1 pc on a timescale of ~100 Myr is unknown.