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Black hole–boson star binaries: Gravitational wave signals and tidal disruption

Gareth Arturo Marks1,*, Seppe J. Staelens1,2,†, and Ulrich Sperhake1,3,4,‡

  • 1DAMTP, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA, United Kingdom
  • 2Leuven Gravity Institute, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D box 2415, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
  • 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
  • 4TAPIR 350-17, Caltech, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

  • *Contact author: gam54@cam.ac.uk
  • †Contact author: ss3033@cam.ac.uk
  • ‡Contact author: U.Sperhake@damtp.cam.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 084016 – Published 5 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/4q9w-5dch

Abstract

We present a detailed, fully nonlinear study of binary systems involving one black hole and one boson star, considering the effects of both a quartic self-interaction and a solitonic potential for the scalar field. First, we show the importance of using initial data for which the boson star is in an equilibrated configuration to obtain accurate gravitational waveforms and discuss methods to further improve constraint violations in the initial data. We then present a series of head-on collisions, showing that even in this simplified scenario the radiative efficiency varies significantly with the scalar potential chosen. In addition to this, we present a preliminary study of inspiral configurations, showing that an appropriate scalar self-interaction can suppress tidal disruption. We comment throughout on implications for attempts to build model-agnostic waveform template banks for exotic compact objects.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 084016– Published 5 October, 2026
  • Received 16 April 2026
  • Accepted 15 September 2026
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