Using final black hole spins and masses to infer the formation history of the observed population of gravitational wave sources

Abstract

In this paper we propose a novel technique to constrain the progenitor binary black hole (BBH) formation history using the remnant masses and spins of merged black holes (BHs). Exploring different models, we found that dynamically formed BBHs are distributed differently in the mass-spin plane than those that have formed in isolation. Stellar evolution recipes crucially affect the remnant mass distribution, suggesting that future efforts should be devoted to finding a common way of modelling the evolutionary phases of single and binary stars. Our simple approach has allowed us to place weak constraints on the origin of the presently observed population of merged BHs, although with high uncertainties. Our results show that the fingerprints of different BBH formation channels will emerge as soon as LIGO detects more than $\sim 10^2$ merger events. This work provides a way of thinking that can be easily used both by people working on isolated and on dynamical BBH formation and evolution.

arXiv comment22 pages, 16 figures, 2 tables. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 482, Issue 3, p.2991-3010

References in corpus (68)

• Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
• On the variation of the Initial Mass Function
• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA)
• PARSEC: stellar tracks and isochrones with the PAdova and TRieste Stellar Evolution Code
• Gravitational Waves and Gamma-rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A
• GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence
• GW170104: Observation of a 50-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence at Redshift 0.2
• X-ray Properties of Black-Hole Binaries
• GW170814: A Three-Detector Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Coalescence
• Binary interaction dominates the evolution of massive stars
• Evolution of binary stars and the effect of tides on binary populations
• Comprehensive analytic formulae for stellar evolution as a function of mass and metallicity
• Mass-loss predictions for O and B stars as a function of metallicity
• Evolution of Binary Black Hole Spacetimes
• Accurate Evolutions of Orbiting Black-Hole Binaries Without Excision
• Gravitational wave extraction from an inspiraling configuration of merging black holes
• Binary Black Hole Mergers in the first Advanced LIGO Observing Run
• Predictions for the Rates of Compact Binary Coalescences Observable by Ground-based Gravitational-wave Detectors
• Common Envelope Evolution: Where we stand and how we can move forward
• Compact Object Modeling with the StarTrack Population Synthesis Code
• Black hole mergers in the universe
• On The Maximum Mass of Stellar Black Holes
• Inspiral-merger-ringdown waveforms for black-hole binaries with non-precessing spins
• Binary Black Hole Mergers from Globular Clusters: Masses, Merger Rates, and the Impact of Stellar Evolution
• Rapid and Bright Stellar-mass Binary Black Hole Mergers in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Merging binary black holes formed through chemically homogeneous evolution in short-period stellar binaries
• The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey VIII. Multiplicity properties of the O-type star population
• On the metallicity dependence of Wolf-Rayet winds
• Inspiral, merger and ringdown of unequal mass black hole binaries: a multipolar analysis
• Binary Black Hole Mergers from Globular Clusters: Implications for Advanced LIGO
• The chemically homogeneous evolutionary channel for binary black hole mergers: rates and properties of gravitational-wave events detectable by advanced LIGO
• Progenitors of gravitational wave mergers: Binary evolution with the stellar grid-based code ComBinE
• MOCCA-SURVEY Database I: Coalescing Binary Black Holes Originating From Globular Clusters
• Eccentric Black Hole Mergers Forming in Globular Clusters
• Binary black hole mergers from field triples: properties, rates and the impact of stellar evolution
• Are merging black holes born from stellar collapse or previous mergers?
• Merging black hole binaries: the effects of progenitor's metallicity, mass-loss rate and Eddington factor
• Distinguishing Spin-Aligned and Isotropic Black Hole Populations With Gravitational Waves
• Massive black hole binaries from runaway collisions: the impact of metallicity
• The evolution of massive black holes and their spins in their galactic hosts
• Accelerating NBODY6 with Graphics Processing Units
• On the final spin from the coalescence of two black holes
• Hierarchical analysis of gravitational-wave measurements of binary black hole spin-orbit misalignments
• Hierarchical data-driven approach to fitting numerical relativity data for nonprecessing binary black holes with an application to final spin and radiated energy
• Compact Binaries in Star Clusters I - Black Hole Binaries Inside Globular Clusters
• The cosmic merger rate of stellar black hole binaries from the Illustris simulation
• On the Binding Energy Parameter $\lambda$ of Common Envelope Evolution
• Determining the population properties of spinning black holes
• Stellar-mass black holes in young massive and open stellar clusters and their role in gravitational-wave generation
• Remnant mass, spin, and recoil from spin aligned black-hole binaries
• Stellar-mass black holes in young massive and open stellar clusters and their role in gravitational-wave generation II
• Understanding Compact Object Formation and Natal Kicks I. Calculation Methods and the case of GRO J1655-40
• Accuracy of inference on the physics of binary evolution from gravitational-wave observations
• Improved methods for simulating nearly extremal binary black holes
• Gravitational wave sources from inspiralling globular clusters in the Galactic Centre and similar environments
• Remnant of binary black-hole mergers: New simulations and peak luminosity studies
• The Globular Cluster Migratory Origin of Nuclear Star Clusters
• Explaining LIGO's observations via isolated binary evolution with natal kicks
• Final spin and radiated energy in numerical simulations of binary black holes with equal masses and equal, aligned or anti-aligned spins
• Back to the Future: Estimating Initial Globular Cluster Masses from their Present Day Stellar Mass Functions
• X-ray Binaries
• Analytical expressions for the envelope binding energy of giants as a function of basic stellar parameters
• Implementing a search for gravitational waves from non-precessing, spinning binary black holes
• The numerical relativity breakthrough for binary black holes
• Mass-redshift Degeneracy for Gravitational-wave Sources in the Vicinity of a Supermassive Black Hole
• Relativistic mergers of black hole binaries have large, similar masses, low spins and are circular
• Understanding Compact Object Formation and Natal Kicks. IV. The case of IC 10 X-1
• MOCCA-SURVEY Database I: Assessing GW kick retention fractions for BH-BH mergers in globular clusters

Cited by in corpus (43)

• Binary Black Hole Population Properties Inferred from the First and Second Observing Runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
• The progenitors of compact-object binaries: impact of metallicity, common envelope and natal kicks
• One Channel to Rule Them All? Constraining the Origins of Binary Black Holes using Multiple Formation Pathways
• Eccentric Black Hole Mergers in Dense Star Clusters: The Role of Binary-Binary Encounters
• AGN Disks Harden the Mass Distribution of Stellar-mass Binary Black Hole Mergers
• Hierarchical black hole mergers in young, globular and nuclear star clusters: the effect of metallicity, spin and cluster properties
• Binary black holes in young star clusters: the impact of metallicity
• Binary black holes in the pair-instability mass gap
• Spin Evolution of Stellar-mass Black Hole Binaries in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Distinguishing Primordial Black Holes from Astrophysical Black Holes by Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer
• Fingerprints of binary black hole formation channels encoded in the mass and spin of merger remnants
• High Mass X-ray Binaries and the Cosmic 21-cm Signal: Impact of Host Galaxy Absorption
• Binary Black Hole Mergers from Globular Clusters: the Impact of Globular Cluster Properties
• The MEGaN project II. Gravitational waves from intermediate mass- and binary black holes around a supermassive black hole
• Picky Partners: The Pairing of Component Masses in Binary Black Hole Mergers
• The mass gap, the spin gap, and the origin of merging binary black holes
• High Eccentricities and High Masses Characterize Gravitational-wave Captures in Galactic Nuclei as Seen by Earth-based Detectors
• Measurement Accuracy of Inspiraling Eccentric Neutron Star and Black Hole Binaries Using Gravitational Waves
• Birth, life, and death of black hole binaries around supermassive black holes: dynamical evolution of gravitational wave sources
• Electromagnetic counterparts of black hole-neutron star mergers: dependence on the neutron star properties
• Black hole mergers in compact star clusters and massive black hole formation beyond the mass-gap
• Mass and rate of hierarchical black hole mergers in young, globular and nuclear star clusters
• Order in the chaos: eccentric black hole binary mergers in triples formed via strong binary-binary scatterings
• Breaching the limit: formation of GW190521-like and IMBH mergers in young massive clusters
• Quiescent and active galactic nuclei as factories of merging compact objects in the era of gravitational-wave astronomy
• Pathways for producing binary black holes with large misaligned spins in the isolated formation channel
• Effective spin distribution of black hole mergers in triples
• Measuring the spins of heavy binary black holes
• Isolated and dynamical black hole mergers with \texttt{B-POP}: the role of star formation and dynamics, star cluster evolution, natal kicks, mass and spins, and hierarchical mergers
• The Keplerian three-body encounter II. Comparisons with isolated encounters and impact on gravitational wave merger timescales
• Dynamics of binary black holes in young star clusters: the impact of cluster mass and long-term evolution
• Black Hole Leftovers: The Remnant Population from Binary Black Hole Mergers
• Comparing Remnant Properties from Horizon Data and Asymptotic Data in Numerical Relativity
• Black hole - black hole total merger mass and the origin of LIGO/Virgo sources
• Efficient multi-timescale dynamics of precessing black-hole binaries
• Dynamical formation of the GW190814 merger
• Divergence in mass ratio distributions between low-mass and high-mass coalescing binary black holes
• Black hole-neutron star mergers from triples II: the role of metallicity and spin-orbit misalignment
• Spin Doctors: How to diagnose a hierarchical merger origin
• Next-to-leading order spin-orbit effects in the equations of motion, energy loss and phase evolution of binaries of compact bodies in the effective field theory approach
• Mapping the asymptotic inspiral of precessing binary black holes to their merger remnants
• The missing link in gravitational-wave astronomy: A summary of discoveries waiting in the decihertz range
• Comparing astrophysical models to gravitational-wave data in the observable space