Targeted modeling of GW150914's binary black hole source with dart_board

Abstract

We present a new method to extract statistical constraints on the progenitor properties and formation channels of individual gravitational-wave sources. Although many different models have been proposed to explain the binary black holes detected by the LIGO Scientific and Virgo Collaboration (LVC), formation through isolated binary evolution remains the best explored channel. Under the assumption of formation through binary evolution, we use the statistical wrapper dart_board coupled with the rapid binary evolution code COSMIC to model the progenitor of GW150914, the first gravitational-wave signal detected by the LVC. Our Bayesian method combines the likelihood generated from the gravitational-wave signal with a prior describing the population of stellar binaries, and the Universe's star-formation and metallicity evolution. We find that the dominant evolutionary channel for GW150914 did not involve a common-envelope phase, but instead the system most probably (70%-90%) formed through stable mass transfer. This result is robust against variations of various model parameters, and it is reversed only when dynamical instability in binaries becomes more likely when a strict condition favoring common envelopes is adopted. Our analysis additionally provides a quantitative description of the progenitors relevant to each channel.

arXiv comment14 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in ApJL

References in corpus (105)

• SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
• Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
• emcee: The MCMC Hammer
• The NumPy array: a structure for efficient numerical computation
• Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters
• GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral
• The Astropy Project: Building an inclusive, open-science project and status of the v2.0 core package
• Advanced Virgo: a 2nd generation interferometric gravitational wave detector
• Cosmic Star Formation History
• Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger
• GWTC-1: A Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog of Compact Binary Mergers Observed by LIGO and Virgo during the First and Second Observing Runs
• Advanced LIGO
• GWTC-2: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the First Half of the Third Observing Run
• Evolution of binary stars and the effect of tides on binary populations
• GW190814: Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of a 23 M${}_{\odot }$ Black Hole with a 2.6 M${}_{\odot }$ Compact Object
• Tests of general relativity with GW150914
• Comprehensive analytic formulae for stellar evolution as a function of mass and metallicity
• GW190425: Observation of a Compact Binary Coalescence with Total Mass $\sim 3.4M_{\odot }$
• Gravitational Waves from Mergin Compact Binaries: How Accurately Can One Extract the Binary's Parameters from the Inspiral Waveform?
• Did LIGO detect dark matter?
• Properties of the Binary Black Hole Merger GW150914
• Compact Remnant Mass Function: Dependence on the Explosion Mechanism and Metallicity
• Primordial Black Hole Scenario for the Gravitational-Wave Event GW150914
• The first gravitational-wave source from the isolated evolution of two 40-100 Msun stars
• Astrophysical Implications of the Binary Black-Hole Merger GW150914
• The Emergence of a Lanthanide-Rich Kilonova Following the Merger of Two Neutron Stars
• Double Compact Objects I: The Significance Of The Common Envelope On Merger Rates
• Theoretical Physics Implications of the Binary Black-Hole Mergers GW150914 and GW151226
• A new route towards merging massive black holes
• The Electromagnetic Counterpart of the Binary Neutron Star Merger LIGO/VIRGO GW170817. IV. Detection of Near-infrared Signatures of r-process Nucleosynthesis with Gemini-South
• Open data from the first and second observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
• Merging binary black holes formed through chemically homogeneous evolution in short-period stellar binaries
• Gravitational waves from inspiralling compact binaries: Parameter estimation using second-post-Newtonian waveforms
• Assisted Inspirals of Stellar Mass Black Holes Embedded in AGN Disks: Solving the "Final AU Problem"
• Identification of strontium in the merger of two neutron stars
• The chemically homogeneous evolutionary channel for binary black hole mergers: rates and properties of gravitational-wave events detectable by advanced LIGO
• Merging black hole binaries in galactic nuclei: implications for advanced-LIGO detections
• LSD: Lyman-break galaxies Stellar populations and Dynamics. I: Mass, metallicity and gas at z~3.1
• Formation of the first three gravitational-wave observations through isolated binary evolution
• The evolutionary roads leading to low effective spins, high black hole masses, and O1/O2 rates of LIGO/Virgo binary black holes
• The progenitors of compact-object binaries: impact of metallicity, common envelope and natal kicks
• Illuminating Black Hole Binary Formation Channels with Spins in Advanced LIGO
• Nonparametric constraints on neutron star matter with existing and upcoming gravitational wave and pulsar observations
• Black Holes: The Next Generation -- Repeated Mergers in Dense Star Clusters and their Gravitational-Wave Properties
• Binary black hole mergers from field triples: properties, rates and the impact of stellar evolution
• Dynamic temperature selection for parallel-tempering in Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations
• One Channel to Rule Them All? Constraining the Origins of Binary Black Holes using Multiple Formation Pathways
• Merging black hole binaries: the effects of progenitor's metallicity, mass-loss rate and Eddington factor
• COSMIC Variance in Binary Population Synthesis
• The effect of the metallicity-specific star formation history on double compact object mergers
• Possible Indirect Confirmation of the Existence of Pop III Massive Stars by Gravitational Wave
• Theoretical uncertainties of the type Ia supernova rate
• Merging black hole binaries with the SEVN code
• Merging black holes in young star clusters
• BPASS predictions for Binary Black-Hole Mergers
• GW170817: constraining the nuclear matter equation of state from the neutron star tidal deformability
• Multi-messenger Bayesian parameter inference of a binary neutron-star merger
• Dynamics of stellar black holes in young star clusters with different metallicities - II. Black hole-black hole binaries
• The origin of spin in binary black holes: Predicting the distributions of the main observables of Advanced LIGO
• Dynamical Formation of the GW150914 Binary Black Hole
• The spin of the second-born black hole in coalescing binary black holes
• Compact Binary Merger Rates: Comparison with LIGO/Virgo Upper Limits
• Forming short-period Wolf-Rayet X-ray binaries and double black holes through stable mass transfer
• Orbital Characteristics of Binary Systems after Asymmetric Supernova Explosions
• On the alpha formalism for the common envelope interaction
• Orbital Migration of Interacting Stellar Mass Black Holes in Disks around Supermassive Black Holes
• The first direct double neutron star merger detection: implications for cosmic nucleosynthesis
• Degeneracy between mass and spin in black-hole-binary waveforms
• The cosmic merger rate density of compact objects: impact of star formation, metallicity, initial mass function and binary evolution
• The impact of pair-instability mass loss on the binary black hole mass distribution
• The impact of mass-transfer physics on the observable properties of field binary black hole populations
• Model comparison from LIGO-Virgo data on GW170817's binary components and consequences for the merger remnant
• Resonant-plane locking and spin alignment in stellar-mass black-hole binaries: a diagnostic of compact-binary formation
• Black hole mergers from quadruples
• Exploring the Lower Mass Gap and Unequal Mass Regime in Compact Binary Evolution
• On the Origin of Black Hole Spin in High-mass X-Ray Binaries
• The Complete Evolution of a Neutron-Star Binary through a Common Envelope Phase Using 1D Hydrodynamic Simulations
• A Triple Origin for the Heavy and Low-Spin Binary Black Holes Detected by LIGO/Virgo
• Accuracy of inference on the physics of binary evolution from gravitational-wave observations
• Joint constraints on the field-cluster mixing fraction, common envelope efficiency, and globular cluster radii from a population of binary hole mergers via deep learning
• On the Progenitor of Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817
• The cosmic merger rate density evolution of compact binaries formed in young star clusters and in isolated binaries
• Repeated mergers and ejection of black holes within nuclear star clusters
• Binary black hole mergers in AGN accretion discs: gravitational wave rate density estimates
• The Most Massive Binary Black Hole Detections and the Identification of Population Outliers
• Precessional dynamics of black hole triples: binary mergers with near-zero effective spin
• A census of ultraluminous X-ray sources in the local Universe
• Black Hole Mergers from Hierarchical Triples in Dense Star Clusters
• Merger rate of black hole binaries from globular clusters: theoretical error bars and comparison to gravitational wave data from GWTC-2
• When and where did GW150914 form?
• Binary Black Hole Mergers from Globular Clusters: the Impact of Globular Cluster Properties
• Chemically Homogeneous Evolution: A rapid population synthesis approach
• Cyg X-3: a Galactic double black hole or black hole-neutron star progenitor
• IC10~X-1/NGC300~X-1: the very immediate progenitors of BH-BH binaries
• You Can't Always Get What You Want: The Impact of Prior Assumptions on Interpreting GW190412
• The origin of pulsating ultra-luminous X-ray sources: Low- and intermediate-mass X-ray binaries containing neutron star accretors
• The Origin of inequality: isolated formation of a 30+10Msun binary black-hole merger
• Wind mass-loss rates of stripped stars inferred from Cygnus X-1
• Double Neutron Star Formation: Merger Times, Systemic Velocities, and Travel Distances
• Constraining accretion efficiency in massive binary stars with LIGO-Virgo black holes
• The connection between merging double compact objects and the Ultraluminous X-ray Sources
• Gravitational waves from Population III binary black holes are consistent with LIGO/Virgo O3a data for the chirp mass larger than $\sim 20M_{\odot }$
• dart_board: Binary Population Synthesis with Markov Chain Monte Carlo
• A Study of the Evolution of the Close Binaries Cyg X-3, IC 10 X-1, NGC 300 X-1, SS 433, and M33 X-7 Using the "Scenario Machine"
• Successful Common Envelope Ejection and Binary Neutron Star Formation in 3D Hydrodynamics

Cited by in corpus (8)

• The impact of common envelope development criteria on the formation of LIGO/Virgo sources
• Correlations in gravitational-wave reconstructions from eccentric binaries: A case study with GW151226 and GW170608
• Physical Models for the Astrophysical Population of Black Holes: Application to the Bump in the Mass Distribution of Gravitational Wave Sources
• LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA's Oldest Black Holes: Probing star formation at cosmic noon with GWTC-3
• Backward Population Synthesis: Mapping the Evolutionary History of Gravitational-Wave Progenitors
• New insights on binary black hole formation channels after GWTC-2: young star clusters versus isolated binaries
• Single-event likelihood of star cluster properties with LIGO-Virgo-Kagra binary black hole observations
• Simulation-calibrated Bayesian inference for progenitor properties of the microquasar SS 433