Massive binary black holes from Population II and III stars

Abstract

Population III stars, born from the primordial gas in the Universe, lose a negligible fraction of their mass via stellar winds and possibly follow a top-heavy mass function. Hence, they have often been regarded as the ideal progenitors of massive black holes (BHs), even above the pair instability mass gap. Here, we evolve a large set of Population III binary stars (metallicity $Z=10^{-11}$) with our population-synthesis code SEVN, and compare them with Population II binary stars ($Z=10^{-4}$). In our models, the lower edge of the pair-instability mass gap corresponds to a BH mass of $\approx 86$ ($\approx 91$) M${}_{\odot }$ for single Population III (II) stars. Overall, we find only mild differences between the properties of binary BHs (BBHs) born from Population III and II stars, especially if we adopt the same initial mass function and initial orbital properties. Most BBH mergers born from Population III and II stars have primary BH mass below the pair-instability gap, and the maximum secondary BH mass is $<50$ M${}_{\odot }$. Only up to $\approx 3.3$% ($\approx 0.09$%) BBH mergers from Population III (II) progenitors have primary mass above the gap. Unlike metal-rich binary stars, the main formation channel of BBH mergers from Population III and II stars involves only stable mass transfer episodes in our fiducial model.

15 pages, 17 figures, Comments are welcome. Published in MNRAS

References in corpus (26)

• Array Programming with NumPy
• Binary interaction dominates the evolution of massive stars
• 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
• Properties and astrophysical implications of the 150 Msun binary black hole merger GW190521
• Mind the gap: The location of the lower edge of the pair instability supernovae black hole mass gap
• Very massive stars, pair-instability supernovae and intermediate-mass black holes with the SEVN code
• Primordial Star Formation under the Influence of Far Ultraviolet Radiation: 1540 Cosmological Halos and the Stellar Mass Distribution
• The Mass Spectrum of the First Stars
• Fragmentation of star-forming clouds enriched with the first dust
• The Evolution of Massive Helium Stars Including Mass Loss
• Probing the Formation of the First Low-Mass Stars with Stellar Archaeology
• PARSEC V2.0: Stellar tracks and isochrones of low and intermediate mass stars with rotation
• Mixing by overshooting and rotation in intermediate mass stars
• Formation sites of Population III star formation: The effects of different levels of rotation and turbulence on the fragmentation behavior of primordial gas
• The Stellar Merger Scenario for Black Holes in the Pair-instability Gap
• Chirp Mass and Spin of Binary Black Holes from First Star Remnants
• Grids of stellar models with rotation: V. Models from 1.7 to 120 Msun at zero metallicity
• Fragmentation induced starvation in Population III star formation: a resolution study
• Trapping of HII regions in Population III star formation
• Binary black hole mergers from Population III stars: uncertainties from star formation and binary star properties
• Gravitational wave of intermediate-mass black holes in Population III star clusters
• Can Population III stars be major origins of both merging binary black holes and extremely metal poor stars?
• Modelling stellar evolution in mass-transferring binaries and gravitational-wave progenitors with METISSE
• The first stars: formation, properties, and impact

Cited by in corpus (15)

• The Science of the Einstein Telescope
• Gravitational Wave Astronomy With TianQin
• Evidence for the evolution of black hole mass function with redshift
• Evolutionary tracks, ejecta, and ionizing photons from intermediate-mass to very massive stars with PARSEC
• Merging Hierarchical Triple Black Hole Systems with Intermediate-mass Black Holes in Population III Star Clusters
• Gravitational waves from mergers of Population III binary black holes: roles played by two evolution channels
• The boring history of Gaia BH3 from isolated binary evolution
• No evidence that the binary black hole mass distribution evolves with redshift
• Binary black hole mergers from Population III star clusters
• A Study of Primordial Very Massive Star Evolution. II. Stellar Rotation and Gamma-Ray Burst Progenitors
• Classifying binary black holes from Population III stars with the Einstein Telescope: A machine-learning approach
• Fast and accurate parameter estimation of high-redshift sources with the Einstein Telescope
• Impact of Population III stars on the astrophysical gravitational-wave background
• Black Hole - Neutron Star and Binary Neutron Star Mergers from Population III and II stars
• Investigating the formation channel of GW231123: Population III stars or hierarchical mergers?