GW200115: a non-spinning black hole -- neutron star merger

Abstract

GW200115 was the second merger of a black hole and a neutron star confidently detected through gravitational waves. Inference on the signal allows for a large black hole spin misaligned with the orbital angular momentum, but shows little support for aligned spin values. We show that this is a natural consequence of measuring the parameters of a black hole -- neutron star binary with non-spinning components while assuming the priors used in the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA analysis. We suggest that, a priori, a non-spinning binary is more consistent with current astrophysical understanding.

Minor updates to the version accepted to ApJ Letters

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• Demographics of neutron stars in young massive and open clusters
• Impact of natal kicks on merger rates and spin-orbit misalignments of black hole -- neutron star mergers
• On the large apparent black hole spin-orbit misalignment angle in GW200115
• Formation of the First Two Black Hole-Neutron Star Mergers (GW200115 and GW200105) from Isolated Binary Evolution

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• A Channel to Form Fast-spinning Black Hole--Neutron Star Binary Mergers as Multi-messenger Sources
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• Orbital eccentricity in a neutron star - black hole merger
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• Multi-Messenger Constraints on Magnetic Fields in Merging Black Hole-Neutron Star Binaries
• An upper limit on the spins of merging binary black holes formed through binary evolution
• Orbital Eccentricity and Spin-Orbit Misalignment Are Evidence that Neutron Star-Black Hole Mergers Form through Triple Star Evolution
• Formation of GW230529 from Isolated Binary Evolution
• Searching for candidates of coalescing binary black holes formed through chemically homogeneous evolution in GWTC-3
• Natal kicks of compact objects
• Constraints on Population I/II neutron star-black hole binary formation by gravitational wave and radio observations
• Characterizing Compact-object Binaries in the Lower Mass Gap with Gravitational Waves
• Modelling the formation of the first two neutron star-black hole mergers, GW200105 and GW200115: metallicity, chirp masses and merger remnant spins
• Gravitational-wave astronomy requires population-informed parameter estimation