Unequal-mass, highly-spinning binary black hole mergers in the stable mass transfer formation channel

Abstract

The growing database of gravitational-wave (GW) detections with the binary black holes (BHs) merging in the distant Universe contains subtle insights into their formation scenarios. One of the puzzling properties of detected GW sources is the possible (anti)correlation between mass ratio q of BH-BH binaries and their effective spin. We use rapid binary evolution models to demonstrate that the isolated binary evolution followed by efficient tidal spin-up of stripped helium core produces a similar pattern in Xeff vs q distributions of BH-BH mergers. In our models, the progenitors of unequal BH-BH systems in the stable mass transfer formation scenario are more likely to efficiently shrink their orbits during the second Roche-lobe overflow than the binaries that evolve into nearly equal-mass component systems. This makes it easier for unequal-mass progenitors to enter the tidal spin-up regime and later merge due to GW emission. Our results are, however, sensitive to some input assumptions, especially, the stability of mass transfer and the angular momentum loss during non-conservative mass transfer. We note that mass transfer prescriptions widely adopted in rapid codes favor the formation of BH-BH merger progenitors with unequal masses and moderate separations. We compare our results with detailed stellar model grids and find reasonable agreement after appropriate calibration of the physics models. We anticipate that future detections of unequal-mass BH-BH mergers could provide valuable constraints on the role of the stable mass transfer formation channel. A significant fraction of BH-BH detections with mass ratio q in range (0.4 - 0.7) would be consistent with the mass ratio reversal scenario during the first, relatively conservative mass transfer, and a non-enhanced angular momentum loss during the second, highly non-conservative mass transfer phase.

Version accepted for publication in A&A

References in corpus (107)

• The Gaia mission
• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA)
• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA): Giant Planets, Oscillations, Rotation, and Massive Stars
• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA): Binaries, Pulsations, and Explosions
• Evolution of binary stars and the effect of tides on binary populations
• A statistical study of 233 pulsar proper motions
• Characterization of the LIGO detectors during their sixth science run
• Compact Remnant Mass Function: Dependence on the Explosion Mechanism and Metallicity
• Dynamo action by differential rotation in a stably stratified stellar interior
• The first gravitational-wave source from the isolated evolution of two 40-100 Msun stars
• Binary Black Hole Population Properties Inferred from the First and Second Observing Runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
• Compact Object Modeling with the StarTrack Population Synthesis Code
• Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in External Galaxies
• Double Compact Objects III: Gravitational Wave Detection Rates
• Science with the Einstein Telescope: a comparison of different designs
• Progenitors of gravitational wave mergers: Binary evolution with the stellar grid-based code ComBinE
• 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
• Radiation Backgrounds at Cosmic Dawn: X-Rays from Compact Binaries
• The distances to Galactic low-mass X-ray binaries: consequences for black hole luminosities and kicks
• The effect of the metallicity-specific star formation history on double compact object mergers
• The Compactness of Presupernova Stellar Cores
• Merging black hole binaries with the SEVN code
• BPASS predictions for Binary Black-Hole Mergers
• Missing Black Holes Unveil The Supernova Explosion Mechanism
• The origin of spin in binary black holes: Predicting the distributions of the main observables of Advanced LIGO
• High Resolution Study of Presupernova Compactness
• Investigating stellar-mass black hole kicks
• Mass Measurements of Stellar and Intermediate Mass 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
• Forming short-period Wolf-Rayet X-ray binaries and double black holes through stable mass transfer
• Pulsational pair-instability supernovae in very close binaries
• On the alpha formalism for the common envelope interaction
• Observation of Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of a $2.5\text{-}4.5M_{\odot }$ Compact Object and a Neutron Star
• The Pair-Instability Mass Gap for Black Holes
• A Complete Survey of Case A Binary Evolution with Comparison to Observed Algol-Type Systems
• Efficiency of mass transfer in massive close binaries, Tests from double-lined eclipsing binaries in the SMC
• Stability of mass transfer from massive giants: double black-hole binary formation and ultra-luminous X-ray sources
• Formation rates of core collapse SNe and GRBs
• The role of mass transfer and common envelope evolution in the formation of merging binary black holes
• Different to the core: the pre-supernova structures of massive single and binary-stripped stars
• 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
• It has to be cool: on supergiant progenitors of binary black hole mergers from common-envelope evolution
• The impact of mass-transfer physics on the observable properties of field binary black hole populations
• Ultraluminous X-ray sources
• The expansion of stripped-envelope stars: consequences for supernovae and gravitational-wave progenitors
• The redshift evolution of the binary black hole merger rate: a weighty matter
• Pre-supernova evolution, compact object masses and explosion properties of stripped binary stars
• Adiabatic Mass Loss in Binary Stars - I. Computational Method
• Cool and Luminous Transients from Mass-Losing Binary Stars
• The properties of merging black holes and neutron stars across cosmic time
• Common envelope ejection in massive binary stars - Implications for the progenitors of GW150914 and GW151226
• Effects of neutrino-driven kicks on the supernova explosion mechanism
• Adiabatic Mass Loss in Binary Stars. II. From Zero-Age Main Sequence to the Base of the Giant Branch
• When can gravitational-wave observations distinguish between black holes and neutron stars?
• Orbital Evolution of Equal-mass Eccentric Binaries due to a Gas Disk: Eccentric Inspirals and Circular Outspirals
• Discovery of a dormant 33 solar-mass black hole in pre-release Gaia astrometry
• GW150914: Spin based constraints on the merger time of the progenitor system
• Research Note: The Expected Spins of Gravitational Wave Sources With Isolated Field Binary Progenitors
• Towards a Realistic Explosion Landscape for Binary Population Synthesis
• Gamma-Ray Bursts from tidally spun-up Wolf-Rayet stars?
• Equilibrium eccentricity of accreting binaries
• Strong disc winds traced throughout outbursts in black-hole X-ray binaries
• The most ordinary formation of the most unusual double black hole merger
• Be X-ray binaries in the SMC as indicators of mass transfer efficiency
• Adiabatic mass loss in binary stars. III. From the base of the red giant branch to the tip of asymptotic giant branch
• Orbital Evolution of Binaries in Circumbinary Disks
• Orbital evolution of mass-transferring eccentric binary systems. II. Secular Evolution
• No peaks without valleys: The stable mass transfer channel for gravitational-wave sources in light of the neutron star-black hole mass gap
• The impact of common envelope development criteria on the formation of LIGO/Virgo sources
• Effects of close binary evolution on the main-sequence morphology of young star clusters
• The implications of high BH spins on the origin of BH-BH mergers
• Orbital evolution of mass-transferring eccentric binary systems. I. Phase-dependent evolution
• Partial-envelope stripping and nuclear-timescale mass transfer from evolved supergiants at low metallicity
• Implications of the low binary black hole aligned spins observed by LIGO
• Understanding the high-mass binary black hole population from stable mass transfer and super-Eddington accretion in BPASS
• Suspicious Siblings: The Distribution of Mass and Spin Across Component Black Holes in Isolated Binary Evolution
• The Effect of Supernova Convection On Neutron Star and Black Hole Masses
• Common envelope evolution of eccentric binaries
• An analytic model for mass transfer in binaries with arbitrary eccentricity, with applications to triple-star systems
• The thermal equilibrium mass loss model and its applications in binary evolution
• LIGO--Virgo correlations between mass ratio and effective inspiral spin: testing the active galactic nuclei channel
• The role of supernova convection for the lower mass gap in the isolated binary formation of gravitational wave sources
• Impact of gas hardening on the population properties of hierarchical black hole mergers in AGN disks
• A new age determination Gamma^2 Velorum from binary stellar evolution models
• Signatures of mass ratio reversal in gravitational waves from merging binary black holes
• The Common Envelope Evolution Outcome -- A Case Study on Hot Subdwarf B Stars
• gyre_tides: Modeling binary tides within the gyre stellar oscillation code
• Long-term Evolution of Binary Orbits Induced by Circumbinary Disks
• On the accretion disc and evolutionary stage of beta Lyrae
• Evidence for the evolution of black hole mass function with redshift
• Mass transfer in eccentric binary systems using the binary evolution code BINSTAR
• GW200115: a non-spinning black hole -- neutron star merger
• Evidence for a correlation between binary black hole mass ratio and black-hole spins
• Supercritical growth pathway to overmassive black holes at cosmic dawn: coevolution with massive quasar hosts
• Black-hole mergers in disklike environments could explain the observed $q$-${\chi }_{\mathrm{eff}}$ correlation
• The ${\chi }_{\mathrm{eff}}-z$ correlation of field binary black hole mergers and how 3G gravitational-wave detectors can constrain it
• X-ray emission from BH+O star binaries expected to descend from the observed galactic WR+O binaries
• Observational properties of massive black hole binary progenitors
• Large-scale outflow structure and radiation properties of super-Eddington flow: Dependence on the accretion rates
• Runaway Coalescence of Pre-Common-Envelope Stellar Binaries
• The earliest O-type eclipsing binary in the Small Magellanic Cloud, AzV 476: A comprehensive analysis reveals surprisingly low stellar masses
• Binary vision: The merging black hole binary mass distribution via iterative density estimation
• Forming merging double compact objects with stable mass transfer
• Criteria for Dynamical Timescale Mass Transfer of Metal-poor Intermediate-mass Stars
• Which black hole is spinning? Probing the origin of black-hole spin with gravitational waves
• Rapid population synthesis of black-hole high-mass X-ray binaries: implications for binary stellar evolution

Cited by in corpus (15)

• The Science of the Einstein Telescope
• Nonparametric analysis of correlations in the binary black hole population with LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA data
• McFacts III: Compact binary mergers from AGN disks over an entire synthetic universe
• Gravitational-wave Observations Suggest Most Black Hole Mergers Form in Triples
• Revealing the ${\chi }_{\mathrm{eff}}$-$q$ Correlation among Coalescing Binary Black Holes and Tentative Evidence for AGN-driven Hierarchical Mergers
• Rapid binary mass transfer: Circumbinary outflows and angular momentum losses
• Development of convective envelopes in massive stars: Implications for gravitational wave sources
• A Mid-Thirties Crisis: Dissecting the Properties of Gravitational Wave Sources Near the 35 Solar Mass Peak
• McFACTS II: Mass Ratio--Effective Spin Relationship of Black Hole Mergers in the AGN Channel
• X-ray emission from helium star+black hole binaries as probes of tidally induced spin-up of second-born black holes
• Seeking Spinning Subpopulations of Black Hole Binaries via Iterative Density Estimation
• Wolf-Rayet -- compact object binaries as progenitors of binary compact objects
• On the Astrophysical Origin of Binary Black Hole Subpopulations: A Tale of Three Channels?
• Reassessing the Spin of Second-born Black Holes in Coalescing Binary Black Holes and Its Connection to the chi_eff-q Correlation
• Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients as "Failed" Gravitational-wave Sources: Helium Core$-$Black Hole Mergers Following Delayed Dynamical Instability