Black holes in the low mass gap: Implications for gravitational wave observations

Abstract

Binary neutron-star mergers will predominantly produce black-hole remnants of mass $\sim 3-4M_{\odot }$, thus populating the putative \emph{low mass gap} between neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes. If these low-mass black holes are in dense astrophysical environments, mass segregation could lead to "second-generation" compact binaries merging within a Hubble time. In this paper, we investigate possible signatures of such low-mass compact binary mergers in gravitational-wave observations. We show that this unique population of objects, if present, will be uncovered by the third-generation gravitational-wave detectors, such as Cosmic Explorer and Einstein Telescope. Future joint measurements of chirp mass $\mathcal{M}$ and effective spin ${\chi }_{\mathrm{eff}}$ could clarify the formation scenario of compact objects in the low mass gap. As a case study, we show that the recent detection of GW190425 (along with GW170817) favors a double Gaussian mass model for neutron stars, under the assumption that the primary in GW190425 is a black hole formed from a previous binary neutron star merger.

8 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. v4: matches the version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D

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• GW190814: Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of a 23 M${}_{\odot }$ Black Hole with a 2.6 M${}_{\odot }$ Compact Object
• GW190425: Observation of a Compact Binary Coalescence with Total Mass $\sim 3.4M_{\odot }$
• Hierarchical mergers of stellar-mass black holes and their gravitational-wave signatures
• 4-OGC: Catalog of gravitational waves from compact-binary mergers
• Observation of Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of a $2.5\text{-}4.5M_{\odot }$ Compact Object and a Neutron Star
• GWTC-2.1: Deep Extended Catalog of Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the First Half of the Third Observing Run
• GW190814 as a massive rapidly-rotating neutron star with exotic degrees of freedom
• Exploring the Lower Mass Gap and Unequal Mass Regime in Compact Binary Evolution
• From inflation to black hole mergers and back again: Gravitational-wave data-driven constraints on inflationary scenarios with a first-principle model of primordial black holes across the QCD epoch
• The Science of the Einstein Telescope
• GW190814: Spin and equation of state of a neutron star companion
• Black Hole Formation in the Lower Mass Gap through Mergers and Accretion in AGN Disks
• Discriminating between Neutron Stars and Black Holes with Imperfect Knowledge of the Maximum Neutron Star Mass
• Constraints on the maximum mass of neutron stars with a quark core from GW170817 and NICER PSR J0030+0451 data
• Listening to the Universe with Next Generation Ground-Based Gravitational-Wave Detectors
• Resolving The Peak Of The Black Hole Mass Spectrum
• Measuring precession in asymmetric compact binaries
• Quiescent and active galactic nuclei as factories of merging compact objects in the era of gravitational-wave astronomy
• Heavy double neutron stars: birth, mid-life and death
• Populating the Black Hole Mass Gaps In Stellar Clusters: General Relations and Upper Limits
• Formation of mass gap objects in highly asymmetric mergers
• A gravitational-wave limit on the Chandrasekhar mass of dark matter
• Systematic Biases in Estimating the Properties of Black Holes Due to Inaccurate Gravitational-Wave Models
• Heavy Magnetic Neutron Stars
• Reconstructing the Genealogy of LIGO-Virgo Black Holes
• Statistical and systematic uncertainties in extracting the source properties of neutron star - black hole binaries with gravitational waves
• Distinguishing double neutron star from neutron star-black hole binary populations with gravitational wave observations
• Predictions of a simple parametric model of hierarchical black hole mergers
• Black hole - neutron star mergers: The first mass gap and kilonovae
• On the gravitational lensing interpretation of three gravitational wave detections in the mass gap by LIGO and Virgo
• Possible binary neutron star merger history of the primary of GW230529
• Quantifying the evidence against a mass gap between black holes and neutron stars
• Quantum gravity phenomenology at the dawn of the multi-messenger era -- A review
• Formation of GW230529 from Isolated Binary Evolution
• Outliers in the LIGO Black Hole Mass Function from Coagulation in Dense Clusters
• Multi-spectral Sirens: Gravitational-wave Cosmology with (Multi-) Sub-populations of Binary Black Holes
• Black Holes merging with Low Mass Gap Objects inside Globular Clusters
• Measuring Mass and Radius of the Maximum-mass Nonrotating Neutron Star
• Mass Distribution and "Mass Gap" of Compact Stellar Remnants in Binary Systems
• Numerical Relativity Estimates of the Remnant Recoil Velocity in Binary Neutron Star Mergers