The most ordinary formation of the most unusual double black hole merger

Abstract

LIGO/Virgo Collaboration reported the detection of the most massive black hole - black hole (BH-BH) merger up to date with component masses of 85 Msun and 66 Msun (GW190521). Motivated by recent observations of massive stars in the 30 Doradus cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud (>200 Msun; e.g. R136a) and employing newly estimated uncertainties on pulsational pair-instability mass-loss (that allow for possibility of forming BHs with mass up to 90Msun) we show that it is trivial to form such massive BH-BH mergers through the classical isolated binary evolution (with no assistance from either dynamical interactions or exotica). A binary consisting of two massive (180+150 Msun) Population II stars (Z=0.0001) evolves through a stable Roche lobe overflow and common envelope episode. Both exposed stellar cores undergo direct core-collapse and form massive BHs while avoiding pair-instability pulsation mass-loss or total disruption. LIGO/Virgo observations show that the merger rate density of light BH-BH mergers (both components: <50 Msun) is of the order of 10-100 Gpc^-3 yr^-1, while GW190521 indicates that the rate of heavier mergers is 0.02-0.43 Gpc^-3 yr^-1. Our model (with standard assumptions about input physics) but extended to include 200 Msun stars and allowing for the possibility of stellar cores collapsing to 90 Msun BHs produces the following rates: 63 Gpc^-3 yr^-1 for light BH-BH mergers and 0.04 Gpc^-3 yr^-1 for heavy BH-BH mergers. We do not claim that GW190521 was formed by an isolated binary, but it appears that such a possibility can not be excluded.

after revision: now only 2 sigma deviation in C12 fusion rate required

References in corpus (14)

• GW190521: A Binary Black Hole Merger with a Total Mass of $150M_{\odot }$
• Pulsational Pair-Instability Supernovae
• Pulsational pair instability as an explanation for the most luminous supernovae
• The Effect of Pair-Instability Mass Loss on Black Hole Mergers
• Very massive stars, pair-instability supernovae and intermediate-mass black holes with the SEVN code
• Merging black holes in young star clusters
• The 12C(a,g)16O reaction and its implications for stellar helium burning
• Constraints from gravitational wave detections of binary black hole mergers on the ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}{\left(\alpha ,\gamma \right)}^{16}\mathrm{O}$ rate
• Binary black holes in young star clusters: the impact of metallicity
• Exploring the Lower Mass Gap and Unequal Mass Regime in Compact Binary Evolution
• The Formation and Gravitational-Wave Detection of Massive Stellar Black-Hole Binaries
• The Formation of a 70 Msun Black Hole at High Metallicity
• Two extremely luminous WN stars in the Galactic center with circumstellar emission from dust and gas
• The effect of the environment-dependent IMF on the formation and metallicities of stars over the cosmic history

Cited by in corpus (79)

• Hierarchical mergers of stellar-mass black holes and their gravitational-wave signatures
• The Pair-Instability Mass Gap for Black Holes
• Searching for a subpopulation of primordial black holes in LIGO/Virgo gravitational-wave data
• Hierarchical black hole mergers in young, globular and nuclear star clusters: the effect of metallicity, spin and cluster properties
• Formation of GW190521 from stellar evolution: the impact of the hydrogen-rich envelope, dredge-up and ${}^{12}$C($\alpha$, $\gamma$)${}^{16}$O rate on the pair-instability black hole mass gap
• Ultraluminous X-ray sources
• GW190521 as a dynamical capture of two nonspinning black holes
• Mass-gap Mergers in Active Galactic Nuclei
• 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 Cosmic Evolution of Binary Black Holes in Young, Globular and Nuclear Star Clusters: Rates, Masses, Spins and Mixing Fractions
• Four eccentric mergers increase the evidence that LIGO--Virgo--KAGRA's binary black holes form dynamically
• GW190521 may be an intermediate mass ratio inspiral
• Bayesian Evidence for Both Astrophysical and Primordial Black Holes: Mapping the GWTC-2 Catalog to Third-Generation Detectors
• Maximum Black Hole mass across Cosmic Time
• Modeling Dense Star Clusters in the Milky Way and Beyond with the Cluster Monte Carlo Code
• Signs of eccentricity in two gravitational-wave signals may indicate a sub-population of dynamically assembled binary black holes
• The Science of the Einstein Telescope
• Cover Your Basis: Comprehensive Data-Driven Characterization of the Binary Black Hole Population
• Population III Binary Black Holes: Effects of Convective Overshooting on Formation of GW190521
• The impact of common envelope development criteria on the formation of LIGO/Virgo sources
• High Eccentricities and High Masses Characterize Gravitational-wave Captures in Galactic Nuclei as Seen by Earth-based Detectors
• The implications of high BH spins on the origin of BH-BH mergers
• The Uncertain Future of Massive Binaries Obscures the Origin of LIGO/Virgo Sources
• Search for subsolar-mass binaries in the first half of Advanced LIGO and Virgo's third observing run
• Outflow Bubbles from Compact Binary Mergers Embedded in Active Galactic Nuclei: Cavity Formation and the Impact on Electromagnetic Counterparts
• Merger rate density of binary black holes through isolated Population I, II, III and extremely metal-poor binary star evolution
• Black hole mergers in compact star clusters and massive black hole formation beyond the mass-gap
• The Effect of Supernova Convection On Neutron Star and Black Hole Masses
• Mass and rate of hierarchical black hole mergers in young, globular and nuclear star clusters
• Cosmologically coupled compact objects: a single parameter model for LIGO--Virgo mass and redshift distributions
• Breaching the limit: formation of GW190521-like and IMBH mergers in young massive clusters
• Resolving The Peak Of The Black Hole Mass Spectrum
• Deep learning and Bayesian inference of gravitational-wave populations: Hierarchical black-hole mergers
• Impact of gas hardening on the population properties of hierarchical black hole mergers in AGN disks
• The role of supernova convection for the lower mass gap in the isolated binary formation of gravitational wave sources
• Accretion-Induced Collapse of Neutron Stars in the Disks of Active Galactic Nuclei
• Compact Binary Coalescences: Astrophysical Processes and Lessons Learned
• Limits on hierarchical black hole mergers from the most negative ${\chi }_{\mathrm{eff}}$ systems
• Find the Gap: Black Hole Population Analysis with an Astrophysically Motivated Mass Function
• Measuring the spins of heavy binary black holes
• Gravitational wave of intermediate-mass black holes in Population III star clusters
• Poking Holes: Looking for Gaps in LIGO/Virgo's Black Hole Population
• The Astro-Primordial Black Hole Merger Rates: a Reappraisal
• Black Hole Leftovers: The Remnant Population from Binary Black Hole Mergers
• GW190521 formation via three-body encounters in young massive star clusters
• Black hole - black hole total merger mass and the origin of LIGO/Virgo sources
• The hydrodynamic evolution of binary black holes embedded within the vertically stratified disks of active galactic nuclei
• Unequal-mass, highly-spinning binary black hole mergers in the stable mass transfer formation channel
• Constraints on the contributions to the observed binary black hole population from individual evolutionary pathways in isolated binary evolution
• GW190521: tracing imprints of spin-precession on the most massive black hole binary
• High mass but low spin: an exclusion region to rule out hierarchical black-hole mergers as a mechanism to populate the pair-instability mass gap
• Binary black hole mergers from young massive clusters in the pair-instability supernova mass gap
• Gravitational Waves as a Probe of Globular Cluster Formation and Evolution
• The emergence of diffused Gamma-Ray Burst afterglows from the disks of Active Galactic Nuclei
• Mapping the Likelihood of GW190521 with Diverse Mass and Spin Priors
• Intermediate-mass Black Holes on the Run from Young Star Clusters
• Inferring spin tilts at formation from gravitational wave observations of binary black holes: Interfacing precession-averaged and orbit-averaged spin evolution
• On the Angular Momentum Transport Efficiency within the Star Constrained from Gravitational-wave Observations
• The role of stellar expansion on the formation of gravitational wave sources
• Resolving Black Hole Family Issues Among the Massive Ancestors of Very High-Spin Gravitational-Wave Events Like GW231123
• Ancestral Black Holes of Binary Merger GW190521
• Gravitational waves from mergers of Population III binary black holes: roles played by two evolution channels
• Wind-powered ultraluminous X-ray sources
• Common origin for black holes in both high mass X-ray binaries and gravitational-wave sources
• Euclid detectability of pair instability supernovae in binary population synthesis models consistent with merging binary black holes
• Can Population III stars be major origins of both merging binary black holes and extremely metal poor stars?
• The spins of stripped B stars support magnetic internal angular momentum transport
• Dark Stars and Gravitational Waves: Topical Review
• Formation and Evolution of Accreting Compact Objects
• Detection of LIGO-Virgo binary black holes in the pair-instability mass gap
• Dynamical Formation Scenarios for GW190521 and Prospects for Decihertz Gravitational-Wave Astronomy with GW190521-Like Binaries
• Constraining the AGN formation channel for detected black hole binary mergers up to z=1.5 with the Quaia catalogue
• What Determines the Maximum Mass of AGN-assisted Black Hole Mergers?
• Hypercritical accretion during common envelopes in triples leading to binary black holes in the pair-instability-supernova mass gap
• Evidence for low kick velocities among high-mass X-ray binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud from the spatial correlation function
• X-ray emission from helium star+black hole binaries as probes of tidally induced spin-up of second-born black holes
• On the Formation of GW190521-like Binary Black Hole Merger Systems
• LAMOST medium-resolution spectroscopic survey of binarity and exotic star (LAMOST-MRS-B): Observation strategy and target selection
• On the Astrophysical Origin of Binary Black Hole Subpopulations: A Tale of Three Channels?