Binary-single scattering and the merger of stellar mass black holes due to orbital migration in active galactic nuclei disks

The recent first direct observation of a compact coalescence by LIGO opens a window to study the channels through which merging black hole binaries are formed. The densely-populated and gas-rich environment of the accretion disk of active galactic nuclei (AGN) pose a particularly promising site for forming black hole binaries, and may be aglow in gravitational radiation with distinct signatures visible in the LIGO band. In this work, we conduct N-body simulations to evolve a stellar mass black hole (sBH) binary interacting with a single sBH in an AGN disk around a supermassive black hole in the presence of various disk migration and gaseous effects. We report the propensity of different physical configurations to end in merger in a Hubble time, and we characterize the decrease in the merger time due to the interactions. Furthermore, we evolve the spins of such binaries undergoing geodetic precession and compare to observations in LIGO.