A binary black hole system, where each black hole orbits the system's center of mass, loses energy by emission of gravitational waves. This causes both black holes to spiral in towards each other. However, if the binary were to, by some mechanism, gain orbital energy at the same rate that it radiates away this energy, a non-decaying or “floating” orbit would result. The thesis uses superradiant scattering and tidal friction, which are two equivalent ways of looking at a process by which the system can gain orbital energy from the spin energy of either black hole, to determine the possibility of a floating orbit. It turns out that, for extreme mass ratio binary black holes in circular equatorial orbits, the energy radiated away comfortably exceeds the combined energy gained from the spin of both black holes. Thus, the thesis concludes that circular equatorial floating orbits generated via superradiant scattering/tidal friction are not possible.
","abstract_html":"<p>A binary black hole system, where each black hole orbits the system's center of mass, loses energy by emission of gravitational waves. This causes both black holes to spiral in towards each other. However, if the binary were to, by some mechanism, gain orbital energy at the same rate that it radiates away this energy, a non-decaying or “floating” orbit would result. The thesis uses superradiant scattering and tidal friction, which are two equivalent ways of looking at a process by which the system can gain orbital energy from the spin energy of either black hole, to determine the possibility of a floating orbit. It turns out that, for extreme mass ratio binary black holes in circular equatorial orbits, the energy radiated away comfortably exceeds the combined energy gained from the spin of both black holes. Thus, the thesis concludes that circular equatorial floating orbits generated via superradiant scattering/tidal friction are not possible.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Kapadia, Shasvath Jagat"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science in Physics (MS)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Kennefick, Julia D.","Vyas, Reeta"],"advisors":["Kennefick, Daniel J."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2012-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T00:58:26Z","subjects":["Pure sciences","Black hole orbits","General relativity","Cosmology, Relativity, and Gravity"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/291","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Kennefick, Julia D.","Vyas, Reeta"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Kennefick, Daniel J."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Kapadia, Shasvath Jagat"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2012"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2017-09-29T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science in Physics (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Pure sciences","Black hole orbits","General relativity","Cosmology, Relativity, and Gravity"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/291"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["A binary black hole system, where each black hole orbits the system's center of mass, loses energy by emission of gravitational waves. This causes both black holes to spiral in towards each other. However, if the binary were to, by some mechanism, gain orbital energy at the same rate that it radiates away this energy, a non-decaying or “floating” orbit would result. The thesis uses superradiant scattering and tidal friction, which are two equivalent ways of looking at a process by which the system can gain orbital energy from the spin energy of either black hole, to determine the possibility of a floating orbit. It turns out that, for extreme mass ratio binary black holes in circular equatorial orbits, the energy radiated away comfortably exceeds the combined energy gained from the spin of both black holes. Thus, the thesis concludes that circular equatorial floating orbits generated via superradiant scattering/tidal friction are not possible.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Exploring the Possibility of Floating Orbits for Extreme Mass Ratio Binary Black Holes"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Kennefick, Julia D.","Vyas, Reeta"],"dc:contributor.advisor":["Kennefick, Daniel J."],"dc:creator":["Kapadia, Shasvath Jagat"],"dc:date":["2012"],"dc:date.available":["2017-09-29T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["A binary black hole system, where each black hole orbits the system's center of mass, loses energy by emission of gravitational waves. This causes both black holes to spiral in towards each other. However, if the binary were to, by some mechanism, gain orbital energy at the same rate that it radiates away this energy, a non-decaying or “floating” orbit would result. The thesis uses superradiant scattering and tidal friction, which are two equivalent ways of looking at a process by which the system can gain orbital energy from the spin energy of either black hole, to determine the possibility of a floating orbit. It turns out that, for extreme mass ratio binary black holes in circular equatorial orbits, the energy radiated away comfortably exceeds the combined energy gained from the spin of both black holes. Thus, the thesis concludes that circular equatorial floating orbits generated via superradiant scattering/tidal friction are not possible.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/291"],"dc:subject":["Pure sciences","Black hole orbits","General relativity","Cosmology, Relativity, and Gravity"],"dc:title":["Exploring the Possibility of Floating Orbits for Extreme Mass Ratio Binary Black Holes"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science in Physics (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T00:58:26Z"}