The mass gap, the spin gap, and the origin of merging binary black holes

Baibhav, Vishal; Gerosa, Davide; Berti, Emanuele; Wong, Kaze W. K.; Helfer, Thomas; Mould, Matthew

doi:10.1103/physrevd.102.043002

Cited by 84 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…More importantly, this result holds for all mergers in triples, whether or not the binary was driven to merge by the eKL mechanism. Baibhav et al (2020) has shown that successive mergers are a key distinction of dynamically assembled merging binaries.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Black Hole Mergers from Hierarchical Triples in Dense Star Clusters

Martinez

Fragione

Kremer

et al. 2020

ApJ

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Hierarchical triples are expected to be produced by the frequent binary-mediated interactions in the cores of globular clusters. In some of these triples, the tertiary companion can drive the inner binary to merger following large eccentricity oscillations, as a result of the eccentric Kozai-Lidov mechanism. In this paper, we study the dynamics and merger rates of black hole (BH) hierarchical triples, formed via binary-binary encounters in the CMC Cluster Catalog, a suite of cluster simulations with present-day properties representative of the Milky Way's globular clusters. We compare the properties of the mergers from triples to the other merger channels in dense star clusters, and show that triple systems do not produce significant differences in terms of mass and effective spin distribution. However, they represent an important pathway for forming eccentric mergers, which could be detected by LIGO-Virgo/Kamioka Gravitational-Wave Detector (LVK), and future missions such as LISA and the DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory. We derive a conservative lower limit for the merger rate from this channel of 0.35 Gpc −3 yr −1 in the local universe and up to~9% of these events may have a detectable eccentricity at LVK design sensitivity. Additionally, we find that triple systems could play an important role in retaining second-generation BHs, which can later merge again in the core of the host cluster. Unified Astronomy Thesaurus concepts: Astrophysical black holes (98); Black holes (162); Stellar mass black holes (1611); Gravitational wave astronomy (675); Gravitational wave detectors (676); Gravitational wave sources (677); Gravitational waves (678); Globular star clusters (656); Star clusters (1567); Trinary stars (1714)

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Black Hole Mergers from Hierarchical Triples in Dense Star Clusters

Martinez

Fragione

Kremer

et al. 2020

ApJ

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“…Ref. [13] found that BH effective spins from O1 and O2 are indeed distributed around zero with a dispersion 0.1, and this can have important implications in terms of population inference [14,15]. With a measured primary spin χ 1 ∼ 0.43 [3], GW190412 challenges previous predictions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Astrophysical Implications of GW190412 as a Remnant of a Previous Black-Hole Merger

2020

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“…If these merger products remain in the cluster environment, they can potentially merge again. These hierarchical mergers are characterized by higher masses and spins than is typical of black holes born from stars (Miller & Hamilton 2002;Gerosa & Berti 2017;Arca Sedda et al 2020;Baibhav et al 2020;Kimball et al 2020). Dense stellar environments are prime locations for facilitating such hierarchical mergers, which exhibit unique intrinsic properties that can be measured with GWs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Black Hole Genealogy: Identifying Hierarchical Mergers with Gravitational Waves

Kimball

Talbot

Berry

et al. 2020

ApJ

144

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In dense stellar environments, the merger products of binary black hole mergers may undergo additional mergers. These hierarchical mergers are naturally expected to have higher masses than the first generation of black holes made from stars. The components of hierarchical mergers are expected to have significant characteristic spins, imprinted by the orbital angular momentum of the previous mergers. However, since the population properties of first-generation black holes are uncertain, it is difficult to know if any given merger is first-generation or hierarchical. We use observations of gravitational waves to reconstruct the binary black hole mass and spin spectrum of a population including the possibility of hierarchical mergers. We employ a phenomenological model that captures the properties of merging binary black holes from simulations of globular clusters. Inspired by recent work on the formation of low-spin black holes, we include a zero-spin subpopulation. We analyze binary black holes from LIGO and Virgo's first two observing runs, and find that this catalog is consistent with having no hierarchical mergers. We find that the most massive system in this catalog, GW170729, is mostly likely a firstgeneration merger, having a 4% probability of being a hierarchical merger assuming a 5×10 5 M e globular cluster mass. Using our model, we find that 99% of first-generation black holes in coalescing binaries have masses below 44 M e , and the fraction of binaries with near-zero component spins is less than 0.16 (90% probability). Upcoming observations will determine if hierarchical mergers are a common source of gravitational waves.

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The mass gap, the spin gap, and the origin of merging binary black holes

Cited by 84 publications

References 92 publications

Black Hole Mergers from Hierarchical Triples in Dense Star Clusters

Black Hole Mergers from Hierarchical Triples in Dense Star Clusters

Astrophysical Implications of GW190412 as a Remnant of a Previous Black-Hole Merger

Black Hole Genealogy: Identifying Hierarchical Mergers with Gravitational Waves

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