Observing Eccentricity Oscillations of Binary Black Holes in LISA

Abstract

The tidal force from a third body near a binary system could introduce long-term oscillations in the binary's eccentricity, known as Kozai-Lidov oscillations. We show that the Kozai-Lidov oscillations of stellar-mass black hole binaries have the potential to be observed by LISA. Detections of such binaries will give insights into binary formation channels and also provide an important benchmark of observing Kozai-Lidov oscillations directly.

Comments: 6 pages