Coalescing black hole binaries from globular clusters: mass distributions and comparison to gravitational wave data from GWTC-3

Abstract

We use our cluster population model, cBHBd, to explore the mass distribution of merging black hole binaries formed dynamically in globular clusters. We include in our models the effect of mass growth through hierarchical mergers and compare the resulting distributions to those inferred from the third gravitational wave transient catalogue. We find that none of our models can reproduce the peak at $m_1\simeq 10M_{\odot }$ in the primary black hole mass distribution that is inferred from the data. This disfavours a scenario where most of the sources are formed in globular clusters. On the other hand, a globular cluster origin can account for the inferred secondary peak at $m_1\simeq 35M_{\odot }$, which requires that the most massive clusters form with half-mass densities ${\rho }_{\mathrm{h},0}\gtrsim 10^4{M}_{\odot }\mathrm{p}{\mathrm{c}}^{-3}$. Finally, we find that the lack of a high mass cut--off in the inferred mass distribution can be also explained by the repopulation of an initial mass gap through hierarchical mergers. Matching the inferred merger rate above $\simeq 50M_{\odot }$ requires both initial cluster densities ${\rho }_{\mathrm{h},0}\gtrsim 10^4{M}_{\odot }\mathrm{p}{\mathrm{c}}^{-3}$, and that black holes form with nearly zero spin. A hierarchical merger scenario makes specific predictions for the appearance and position of multiple peaks in the black hole mass distribution, which can be tested against future data.

arXiv commentaccepted by MNRAS; 11 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (62)

• On the variation of the Initial Mass Function
• Cosmic Star Formation History
• Evolution of binary stars and the effect of tides on binary populations
• Mass-loss predictions for O and B stars as a function of metallicity
• A statistical study of 233 pulsar proper motions
• Compact Remnant Mass Function: Dependence on the Explosion Mechanism and Metallicity
• Compact Object Modeling with the StarTrack Population Synthesis Code
• Pulsational Pair-Instability Supernovae
• Double Compact Objects I: The Significance Of The Common Envelope On Merger Rates
• Black hole mergers in the universe
• Binary Black Hole Mergers from Globular Clusters: Masses, Merger Rates, and the Impact of Stellar Evolution
• Merging binary black holes formed through chemically homogeneous evolution in short-period stellar binaries
• Gravitational waves from scattering of stellar-mass black holes in galactic nuclei
• The Ages of 55 Globular Clusters as Determined Using an Improved delta V_TO^HB Method Along with Color-Magnitude Diagram Constraints, and Their Implications for Broader Issues
• On the metallicity dependence of Wolf-Rayet winds
• Binary Black Hole Mergers from Globular Clusters: Implications for Advanced LIGO
• Merging black hole binaries in galactic nuclei: implications for advanced-LIGO detections
• MOCCA-SURVEY Database I: Coalescing Binary Black Holes Originating From Globular Clusters
• Very massive stars, pair-instability supernovae and intermediate-mass black holes with the SEVN code
• The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. XII. The Luminosity Function of Globular Clusters in Early Type Galaxies
• 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
• Lidov-Kozai Cycles with Gravitational Radiation: Merging Black Holes in Isolated Triple Systems
• The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. VII. Resolving the Connection Between Globular Clusters and Ultra-Compact Dwarf Galaxies
• Hierarchical Black Hole Mergers in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Stellar-mass black holes in star clusters: implications for gravitational wave radiation
• Are LIGO's Black Holes Made From Smaller Black Holes?
• Black hole growth through hierarchical black hole mergers in dense star clusters: implications for gravitational wave detections
• On the final spin from the coalescence of two black holes
• Constraints from gravitational wave detections of binary black hole mergers on the ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}{\left(\alpha ,\gamma \right)}^{16}\mathrm{O}$ rate
• Dynamical evolution of black hole sub-systems in idealised star clusters
• Black hole mergers from an evolving population of globular clusters
• Mergers of Stellar-Mass Black Holes in Nuclear Star Clusters
• The formation and hierarchical assembly of globular cluster populations
• 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
• Evidence for hierarchical black hole mergers in the second LIGO--Virgo gravitational-wave catalog
• Populating the upper black hole mass gap through stellar collisions in young star clusters
• The GW190521 Mass Gap Event and the Primordial Black Hole Scenario
• Mass-gap Mergers in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Binary black holes in the pair-instability mass gap
• The Cosmic Evolution of Binary Black Holes in Young, Globular and Nuclear Star Clusters: Rates, Masses, Spins and Mixing Fractions
• Black hole genealogy: Identifying hierarchical mergers with gravitational waves
• Hierarchical Black-Hole Mergers in Multiple Systems: Constrain the Formation of GW190412, GW190814 and GW190521-like events
• Black Hole Binaries Dynamically Formed in Globular Clusters
• Stellar-mass black holes in young massive and open stellar clusters IV: updated stellar-evolutionary and black hole spin models and comparisons with the LIGO-Virgo O1/O2 merger-event data
• Population synthesis of black hole binary mergers from star clusters
• On the merger rate of primordial black holes: effects of nearest neighbours distribution and clustering
• On the mass-radius relation of hot stellar systems
• Black Hole Coagulation: Modeling Hierarchical Mergers in Black Hole Populations
• The Emergence of Structure in the Binary Black Hole Mass Distribution
• Merger rate of black hole binaries from globular clusters: theoretical error bars and comparison to gravitational wave data from GWTC-2
• The mass gap, the spin gap, and the origin of merging binary black holes
• Primordial black hole merger rates: distributions for multiple LIGO observables
• Merging Black Holes in the Low-mass and High-mass Gaps from 2+2 Quadruple Systems
• GW190412 as a Third-Generation Black Hole Merger from a Super Star Cluster
• The Effect of Supernova Convection On Neutron Star and Black Hole Masses
• Stellar-mass black holes in young massive and open stellar clusters V: comparisons with LIGO-Virgo merger rate densities
• GW190521 formation via three-body encounters in young massive star clusters
• First and second-generation black hole and neutron star mergers in 2+2 quadruples: population statistics
• Dynamical double black holes and their host cluster properties

Cited by in corpus (41)

• The Science of the Einstein Telescope
• Resolving the Stellar-Collapse and Hierarchical-Merger origins of the Coalescing Black Holes
• Impact of gas hardening on the population properties of hierarchical black hole mergers in AGN disks
• Bimodal black-hole mass distribution and chirp masses of binary black-hole mergers
• Evidence for the evolution of black hole mass function with redshift
• Landscape of stellar-mass black-hole spectroscopy with third-generation gravitational-wave detectors
• GW241011 and GW241110: Exploring Binary Formation and Fundamental Physics with Asymmetric, High-Spin Black Hole Coalescence
• Hierarchical binary black hole mergers in globular clusters: mass function and evolution with redshift
• The mass-loss rates of star clusters with stellar-mass black holes: implications for the globular cluster mass function
• Dynamical formation of Gaia BH3 in the progenitor globular cluster of the ED-2 stream
• Gravitational wave populations and cosmology with neural posterior estimation
• Reconstructing the Genealogy of LIGO-Virgo Black Holes
• Predictions of a simple parametric model of hierarchical black hole mergers
• Demographics of Hierarchical Black Hole Mergers in Dense Star Clusters
• Binary vision: The merging black hole binary mass distribution via iterative density estimation
• Multimass modelling of Milky Way globular clusters -- I. Implications on their stellar initial mass function above 1 M${}_{\odot }$
• Resolving Black Hole Family Issues Among the Massive Ancestors of Very High-Spin Gravitational-Wave Events Like GW231123
• Physical Models for the Astrophysical Population of Black Holes: Application to the Bump in the Mass Distribution of Gravitational Wave Sources
• Exploring the evolution of gravitational-wave emitters with efficient emulation: Constraining the origins of binary black holes using normalising flows
• Binary black hole mergers from Population III star clusters
• One to many: comparing single gravitational-wave events to astrophysical populations
• Exploring field-evolution and dynamical-capture coalescing binary black holes in GWTC-3
• Revealing the ${\chi }_{\mathrm{eff}}$-$q$ Correlation among Coalescing Binary Black Holes and Tentative Evidence for AGN-driven Hierarchical Mergers
• Compactness peaks: An astrophysical interpretation of the mass distribution of merging binary black holes
• What's in a binary black hole's mass parameter?
• Reexamining Evidence of a Pair-Instability Mass Gap in the Binary Black Hole Population
• A Mid-Thirties Crisis: Dissecting the Properties of Gravitational Wave Sources Near the 35 Solar Mass Peak
• No evidence for a dip in the binary black hole mass spectrum
• Probing cosmic chemical enrichment with next-generation gravitational-wave observatories
• Where did Heavy Binaries Go? Gravitational-wave Populations Using Delaunay Triangulation with Optimized Complexity
• Mass Distribution of Binary Black Hole Mergers from Young and Old Dense Star Clusters
• Seeking Spinning Subpopulations of Black Hole Binaries via Iterative Density Estimation
• Identifying intermediate mass binary black hole mergers in AGN disks using LISA
• Interactions among binary black holes in star clusters: Eccentric gravitational wave captures and triple formation
• On the Astrophysical Origin of Binary Black Hole Subpopulations: A Tale of Three Channels?
• Evidence for Three Subpopulations of Merging Binary Black Holes at Different Primary Masses
• Binary-single interactions with different mass ratios
• Constraining the environment of compact binary mergers with self-lensing signatures
• Measurement prospects for the pair-instability mass cutoff with gravitational waves
• Early Warning From Eccentric Compact Binaries: Template Initialization And Sub-dominant Mode Effects
• Characterizing Binary Black Hole Subpopulations in GWTC-4 with Binned Gaussian Processes: On the Origins of the $35M_{\odot }$ Peak