Abstract

Abstract We present a study of binary–single interactions with energy-loss terms such as tidal dissipation and gravitational-wave (GW) emission added to the equation of motion. The inclusion of such terms leads to the formation of compact binaries that form during the three-body interaction through two-body captures. These binaries predominantly merge relatively promptly at high eccentricity, with several observable and dynamical consequences to follow. Despite their possibility for being observed in both present and upcoming transient surveys, their outcomes are not firmly constrained. In this paper, we present an analytical framework that allows to estimate the cross section of such two-body captures, which permits us to study how the corresponding rates depend on the initial orbital parameters, the mass hierarchy, the type of interacting object, and the energy dissipation mechanism. This formalism is applied here to study the formation of two-body GW captures, for which we estimate absolute and relative rates relevant to Advanced LIGO detections. It is shown that two-body GW captures should have compelling observational implications if a sizable fraction of detected compact binaries are formed via dynamical interactions.

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