Toward a Precision Measurement of Binary Black Holes Formation Channels Using Gravitational Waves and Emission Lines

Mukherjee, Suvodip; Dizgah, Azadeh Moradinezhad

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac903b

“…The progenitor formation rate and the delay time distribution set the BBH merger rate as a function of cosmic time. Thus, measurements of the redshift evolution of the BBH merger rate inform the SFR, the cosmic chemical history, and the delay time distribution (Fishbach & Kalogera 2021;Mukherjee & Dizgah 2022;Fishbach & van Son 2023;Vijaykumar et al 2023;Turbang et al 2024). Additionally, by fitting the observed BBH merger rate in terms of these astrophysical parameters, we can infer what the rate should be at higher redshifts, beyond the current LVK detection horizon at z ∼ 1.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

The Mass Density of Merging Binary Black Holes over Cosmic Time

Schiebelbein-Zwack,

Fishbach

2024

ApJ

1

0

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The connection between the binary black hole (BBH) mergers observed by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA and their stellar progenitors remains uncertain. Specifically, the fraction ϵ of stellar mass that ends up in BBH mergers and the delay time τ between star formation and merger carry information about the astrophysical processes that produce merging BBHs. We model the merger rate in terms of cosmic star formation, coupled with a metallicity-dependent efficiency ϵ and a distribution of delay times τ, and infer these parameters with data from the Third Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog. The progenitors to merging BBHs preferentially form in low-metallicity environments with a low-metallicity efficiency of log 10 ϵ < Z t = − 3.99 − 0.87 + 0.68 and a high-metallicity efficiency of log 10 ϵ < Z t = − 4.60 − 0.34 + 0.30 at 90% credibility. The data also prefer short delay times. For a power-law distribution p(τ) ∝ τ α , we find τ min < 1.9 Gyr and α < −1.32 at 90% credibility. Our model allows us to extrapolate the mass density in BBHs to high redshifts. We cumulatively integrate our density rate over time to get the total density of merging stellar-mass BBHs as a function of redshift. Today, BBH mergers are only ∼0.01% of the total stellar-mass density created by >10 M ⊙ progenitors. However, because massive stars are short lived, there may be more mass in merging BBHs than in living massive stars as early as ∼2.5 Gyr ago. We also compare to the mass in supermassive black holes, finding that the densities were comparable ∼12.5 Gyr ago, but their densities quickly increased to ∼75 times the density in merging stellar-mass BBHs by z ∼ 1.

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“…Currently, constraints on t d are weak from individual events (Fishbach & Kalogera 2021;Karathanasis et al 2023) and the stochastic GW background (Mukherjee & Silk 2021). In the future, by combing the properties of emission line galaxies with GW sources, a better measurement of the delay time is possible (Mukherjee & Dizgah 2022). The time delay is not the same value for all binary black holes, rather, it follows a distribution of P t :…”

Section: Merger Rate Models Of the Compact Objectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

GWSim: Python package for creating mock GW samples for different astrophysical populations and cosmological models of binary black holes

Karathanasis¹,

Revenu²,

Mukherjee³

et al. 2023

A&A

Self Cite

5

0

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Precision cosmology with gravitational wave (GW) sources requires a deeper understanding of the interplay between GW source population and cosmological parameters governing the dynamics of the Universe. With the swift increase in GW detections, it is necessary to develop a tool for exploring many aspects of cosmology and fundamental physics; this tools allows to simulate GW mock samples for several populations and cosmological models. We have developed a new code called GWSim, which allows us to make a large sample of GW mock events from a broad range of configurations, while varying the cosmology, the merger rate, and the GW source parameters (i.e. mass and spin distributions in particular) for a given network of GW detectors. A large sample of simulated mock GW events will be useful for improving our understanding of the statistical properties of the distribution of GW sources, as long as it is detectable for a given detector noise and an astrophysical and cosmological model. It will also be useful to compare simulated samples with the observed distribution of the GW sources from data and infer the underlying population of the GW source parameters and cosmology. We restricted the cosmology to spatially flat universes, including models with varying dark energy equation of state. The GWSim code provides each mock event with a position in the sky and a redshift; these values can be those of random host galaxies coming from an isotropic and homogeneous simulated Universe or a user-supplied galaxy catalog. We used realistic detector configurations of the LIGO and Virgo network of detectors to demonstrate the performance of this code for the latest observation runs and the upcoming observation run.

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“…Many studies have previously used catalogs of gravitationalwave detections to study the formation history of compact binaries (Fishbach et al 2018;Vitale et al 2019;Fishbach & Kalogera 2021;Mukherjee & Dizgah 2022;Riley & Mandel 2023). In this paper, we will study the evolutionary history of compact binaries by combining direct detections with constraints on the gravitational-wave background.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Metallicity Dependence and Evolutionary Times of Merging Binary Black Holes: Combined Constraints from Individual Gravitational-wave Detections and the Stochastic Background

Turbang,

Lalleman,

Callister

et al. 2024

ApJ

4

0

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The advent of gravitational-wave astronomy is now allowing for the study of compact binary merger demographics throughout the Universe. This information can be leveraged as tools for understanding massive stars, their environments, and their evolution. One active question is the nature of compact binary formation: the environmental and chemical conditions required for black hole birth and the time delays experienced by binaries before they merge. Gravitational-wave events detected today, however, primarily occur at low or moderate redshifts due to current interferometer sensitivity, therefore limiting our ability to probe the high-redshift behavior of these quantities. In this work, we circumvent this limitation by using an additional source of information: observational limits on the gravitational-wave background from unresolved binaries in the distant Universe. Using current gravitational-wave data from the first three observing runs of LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA, we combine catalogs of directly detected binaries and limits on the stochastic background to constrain the time-delay distribution and metallicity dependence of binary black hole evolution. Looking to the future, we also explore how these constraints will be improved at the Advanced LIGO A+ sensitivity. We conclude that, although binary black hole formation cannot be strongly constrained with today’s data, the future detection (or a nondetection) of the gravitational-wave background with Advanced LIGO A+ will carry strong implications for the evolution of binary black holes.

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Toward a Precision Measurement of Binary Black Holes Formation Channels Using Gravitational Waves and Emission Lines

Cited by 6 publications

References 59 publications

The Mass Density of Merging Binary Black Holes over Cosmic Time

The Mass Density of Merging Binary Black Holes over Cosmic Time

GWSim: Python package for creating mock GW samples for different astrophysical populations and cosmological models of binary black holes

The Metallicity Dependence and Evolutionary Times of Merging Binary Black Holes: Combined Constraints from Individual Gravitational-wave Detections and the Stochastic Background

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