The Mass Distribution of Stellar Black Holes

Abstract

We examine the distribution of masses of black holes in transient low mass X-ray binary systems. A Bayesian analysis suggests that it is probable that six of the seven systems with measured mass functions have black hole masses clustered near seven solar masses. There appears to be a significant gap between the masses of these systems and those of the observed neutron stars. The remaining source, V404 Cyg, has a mass significantly larger than the others, and our analysis suggests that it is probably drawn from a different distribution. Selection effects do not appear to play a role in producing the observed mass distribution, which may be explained by currently unknown details of the supernova explosions and of binary evolution prior to the supernova.

22 pages including figures, submitted to ApJ

Cited by in corpus (232)

• GWTC-2: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the First Half of the Third Observing Run
• GW190814: Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of a 23 M${}_{\odot }$ Black Hole with a 2.6 M${}_{\odot }$ Compact Object
• GWTC-3: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the Second Part of the Third Observing Run
• GW190425: Observation of a Compact Binary Coalescence with Total Mass $\sim 3.4M_{\odot }$
• Compact Remnant Mass Function: Dependence on the Explosion Mechanism and Metallicity
• A Comprehensive Study of Binary Compact Objects as Gravitational Wave Sources: Evolutionary Channels, Rates, and Physical Properties
• Binary Black Hole Population Properties Inferred from the First and Second Observing Runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
• Observation of gravitational waves from two neutron star-black hole coalescences
• Black holes, gravitational waves and fundamental physics: a roadmap
• Double Compact Objects I: The Significance Of The Common Envelope On Merger Rates
• The Black Hole Mass Distribution in the Galaxy
• Mass Limits For Black Hole Formation
• Theoretical Black Hole Mass Distributions
• The Mass Distribution of Stellar-Mass Black Holes
• The Evolution of Compact Binary Star Systems
• Double Compact Objects III: Gravitational Wave Detection Rates
• BlackCAT: A catalogue of stellar-mass black holes in X-ray transients
• Double Compact Objects II: Cosmological Merger Rates
• On the Eccentricity Distribution of Coalescing Black Hole Binaries Driven by the Kozai Mechanism in Globular Clusters
• The Effect of Pair-Instability Mass Loss on Black Hole Mergers
• Missing Black Holes Unveil The Supernova Explosion Mechanism
• Hierarchical mergers of stellar-mass black holes and their gravitational-wave signatures
• The Landscape of the Neutrino Mechanism of Core-Collapse Supernovae: Neutron Star and Black Hole Mass Functions, Explosion Energies and Nickel Yields
• Dynamical Evidence for a Black Hole in the Microquasar XTE J1550-564
• 4-OGC: Catalog of gravitational waves from compact-binary mergers
• A Black Hole in the Superluminal source SAX J1819.3-2525 (V4641 Sgr)
• Compact Binary Merger Rates: Comparison with LIGO/Virgo Upper Limits
• Black Hole and Neutron Star Transients in Quiescence
• Black hole superradiance of self-interacting scalar fields
• Optical and Infrared Photometry of the Micro-Quasar GRO J1655-40 in Quiescence
• Remnant baryon mass outside of the black hole after a neutron star-black hole merger
• Black hole accretion discs: reality confronts theory
• A Cluster of Black Holes at the Galactic Center
• The Masses and Spins of Neutron Stars and Stellar-Mass Black Holes
• Black hole triple dynamics: breakdown of the orbit average approximation and implications for gravitational wave detections
• Black hole mass and spin coevolution by mergers
• Observational Evidence for Primordial Black Holes: A Positivist Perspective
• Observation of Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of a $2.5\text{-}4.5M_{\odot }$ Compact Object and a Neutron Star
• Towards a formalism for mapping the spacetimes of massive compact objects: Bumpy black holes and their orbits
• Trans-Relativistic Blast Waves in Supernovae as Gamma-Ray Burst Progenitors
• New binary black hole mergers in the LIGO--Virgo O3a data
• Complete RXTE Spectral Observations of the Black Hole X-ray Nova XTE J1550-564
• Causal Limit of Neutron Star Maximum Mass in $f(R)$ Gravity in View of GW190814
• Impact of Massive Binary Star and Cosmic Evolution on Gravitational Wave Observations I: Black Hole-Neutron Star Mergers
• Black Hole, Neutron Star and White Dwarf Candidates from Microlensing with OGLE-III
• The Inclination of the Soft X-ray Transient A0620--00 and the Mass of its Black Hole
• Eccentric Black Hole Gravitational-Wave Capture Sources in Galactic Nuclei: Distribution of Binary Parameters
• GRS 1915+105: The brightest Galactic black hole
• X-ray states and radio emission in the black hole candidate XTE J1550-564
• Populating the upper black hole mass gap through stellar collisions in young star clusters
• N-body simulations of gravitational dynamics
• Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of Low Mass X-ray Binaries : Accretion Disk Contamination and Compact Object Mass Determination in V404 Cyg and Cen X-4
• Hunting for Dark Particles with Gravitational Waves
• An isolated mass gap black hole or neutron star detected with astrometric microlensing
• Rotating black hole orbit functionals in the frequency domain
• Gravitational Microlensing Events Due to Stellar Mass Black Holes
• Exploring the Lower Mass Gap and Unequal Mass Regime in Compact Binary Evolution
• From inflation to black hole mergers and back again: Gravitational-wave data-driven constraints on inflationary scenarios with a first-principle model of primordial black holes across the QCD epoch
• X-Rays from Isolated Black Holes in the Milky Way
• The Connection between Gamma-Ray Bursts and Extremely Metal-Poor Stars: Black Hole-forming Supernovae with Relativistic Jets
• Failed Supernovae Explain the Compact Remnant Mass Function
• Hierarchical Black-Hole Mergers in Multiple Systems: Constrain the Formation of GW190412, GW190814 and GW190521-like events
• Orbital Parameters for the Black Hole Binary XTE J1650-500
• Spectral sirens: cosmology from the full mass distribution of compact binaries
• The Evolving Accretion Disc in the Black Hole X-ray Transient XTE J1859+226
• The Black Hole Mass Function from Gravitational Wave Measurements
• Cyg X-3: a low-mass black hole or a neutron star
• The Halo Black-Hole X-ray Transient XTE J1118+480
• Dynamical confirmation of a black hole in MAXI J1820+070
• The Science of the Einstein Telescope
• Strong Aperiodic X-ray Variability and Quasi-Periodic Oscillation in X-ray Nova XTE J1550-564
• A pulsar in a binary with a compact object in the mass gap between neutron stars and black holes
• A Black Hole in the X-Ray Nova Velorum 1993
• Lennard-Jones quark matter and massive quark stars
• GW190814: Spin and equation of state of a neutron star companion
• A Multi-Wavelength, Multi-Epoch Study of the Soft X-Ray Transient Prototype, V616 Mon (A0620-00)
• No peaks without valleys: The stable mass transfer channel for gravitational-wave sources in light of the neutron star-black hole mass gap
• The Fate of the Compact Remnant in Neutron Star Mergers
• Nuclear Dominated Accretion Flows in Two Dimensions. I. Torus Evolution with Parametric Microphysics
• Probing Primordial-Black-Hole Dark Matter with Gravitational Waves
• Secondary component of gravitational-wave signal GW190814 as an anisotropic neutron star
• Multiwavelength Observations of the Black Hole Candidate XTE J1550-564 during the 2000 Outburst
• Neutron star equation of state: QMF modeling and applications
• X-ray Nova XTE J1550-564: RXTE Spectral Observations
• High Eccentricities and High Masses Characterize Gravitational-wave Captures in Galactic Nuclei as Seen by Earth-based Detectors
• Discovery of a Black-hole Mass - Period Correlation in Soft X-ray Transients and its Implication for Gamma-Ray Burst and Hypernova Mechanisms
• Constraints on Core Collapse from the Black Hole Mass Function
• Bridging the Gap: Categorizing Gravitational-Wave Events at the Transition Between Neutron Stars and Black Holes
• Exploring Features in the Binary Black Hole Population
• Discriminating between Neutron Stars and Black Holes with Imperfect Knowledge of the Maximum Neutron Star Mass
• Modelling Neutron Star-Black Hole Binaries: Future Pulsar Surveys and Gravitational Wave Detectors
• On the metallicity dependence of HMXBs
• Probing the presence of a single or binary black hole in the globular cluster NGC 6752 with pulsar dynamics
• X-Ray Observations of XTE J1550-564 During the Decay of the 2000 Outburst - I. Chandra and RXTE Energy Spectra
• Populations of stellar mass Black holes from binary systems
• Measurement Accuracy of Inspiraling Eccentric Neutron Star and Black Hole Binaries Using Gravitational Waves
• Cyg X-3: a Galactic double black hole or black hole-neutron star progenitor
• Broad search for gravitational waves from subsolar-mass binaries through LIGO and Virgo's third observing run
• GWTC-4.0: Updating the Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog with Observations from the First Part of the Fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Observing Run
• GW190814: On the properties of the secondary component of the binary
• Donor Stars in Black-Hole X-Ray Binaries
• The NINJA-2 project: Detecting and characterizing gravitational waveforms modelled using numerical binary black hole simulations
• Chandra Observation of Luminous and Ultraluminous X-ray Binaries in M101
• A self-consistent method to estimate the rate of compact binary coalescences with a Poisson mixture model
• Pulsations in Short GRBs from Black Hole-Neutron Star Mergers
• Black holes in the low mass gap: Implications for gravitational wave observations
• Spectroscopic evidence for a low-mass black hole in SWIFT J1753.5-0127
• Constraining hadron-quark phase transition parameters within the quark-mean-field model using multimessenger observations of neutron stars
• QCD color superconductivity in compact stars: color-flavor locked quark star candidate for the gravitational-wave signal GW190814
• Binary-Stripped Stars as Core-Collapse Supernovae Progenitors
• The closest black holes
• Resolving The Peak Of The Black Hole Mass Spectrum
• Evidence for a black-hole in the X-ray transient XTE J1859+226
• Influence of three parameters on maximum mass and stability of strange star under linear $f(Q)-$action
• Measuring precession in asymmetric compact binaries
• Charged strange star in $f(R,T)$ gravity with linear equation of state
• The role of supernova convection for the lower mass gap in the isolated binary formation of gravitational wave sources
• The Black Hole Formation Probability
• Binary black hole spectroscopy: a no-hair test of GW190814 and GW190412
• Common Envelope Wind Tunnel: The Effects of Binary Mass Ratio and Implications for the Accretion-Driven Growth of LIGO Binary Black Holes
• Strangeons constitute bulk strong matter-- To test using GW170817
• New binary black hole mergers in the LIGO-Virgo O3b data
• A Model of the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background due to Core Collapse to Black Holes
• Evidence for eccentricity in the population of binary black holes observed by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA
• Measuring neutron star tidal deformability with Advanced LIGO: a Bayesian analysis of neutron star - black hole binary observations
• On the Formation of Galactic Black Hole Low-Mass X-ray Binaries
• GRB/GW association: Long-short GRB candidates, time-lag, measuring gravitational wave velocity and testing Einstein's equivalence principle
• The observed mass distribution of Galactic black hole LMXBs is biased against massive black holes
• Distinguishing high-mass binary neutron stars from binary black holes with second- and third-generation gravitational wave observatories
• Wind Roche Lobe Overflow as a way to make type Ia supernova from the widest symbiotic systems
• A note on the discovery of a 2M_\odot pulsar
• Chandra Observation of LMXBs in the elliptical galaxy M84
• Populating the Black Hole Mass Gaps In Stellar Clusters: General Relations and Upper Limits
• Microlensing by Stellar Black Holes Around Sgr A*
• On the formation and evolution of the first Be star in a black hole binary MWC 656
• A potential mass-gap black hole in a wide binary with a circular orbit
• Constraining properties of asymmetric dark matter candidates from gravitational-wave observations
• Stellar Black Holes and the Origin of Cosmic Acceleration
• Tossing Black Hole Spin Axes
• GW190814: Circumstantial Evidence for Up-Down Quark Star
• A dynamically discovered and characterized non-accreting neutron star -- M dwarf binary candidate
• Final compact remnants in core-collapse supernovae from 20 to 40 $M_{\odot }$: the lower mass gap
• H-cluster stars
• X-ray Nova XTE J1550-564: Optical Observations
• Mass-gap extreme mass ratio inspirals
• Resolved Jets and Long-Period Black Hole X-ray Novae
• Optical Observations of the Black Hole Candidate XTE J1550-564 During Re-Flare and Quiescence
• The formation of black hole low-mass X-ray binaries: through case B or case C mass transfer?
• High Tide: A Systematic Search for Ellipsoidal Variables in ASAS-SN
• Structure in the speed of sound: from neutron stars to heavy-ion collisions
• Dynamical formation of the GW190814 merger
• X-Ray Observations of XTE J1550-564 During the Decay of the 2000 Outburst - II. Timing
• No evidence for a low-mass black hole in Swift J1753.5-0127
• Black hole - neutron star mergers: The first mass gap and kilonovae
• The first five years of gravitational-wave astrophysics
• Mining for Candidates of Galactic Stellar-mass Black Hole Binaries with LAMOST
• Formation of Black Hole Low-Mass X-ray Binaries
• On the Neutron Star/Black Hole Mass Gap and Black Hole Searches
• Formation of Mass-gap Black Holes from Neutron Star X-ray Binaries with Super-Eddington Accretion
• Star formation at the Galactic Centre: coevolution of multiple young stellar discs
• Distinguishing binary neutron star from neutron star-black hole mergers with gravitational waves
• Detecting isolated stellar-mass black holes by the Roman telescope
• Prospects for multi-messenger extended emission from core-collapse supernovae in the Local Universe
• A correlation between Ha trough depth and inclination in quiescent X-ray transients: evidence for a low-mass black hole in GRO J0422+32
• Near-Infrared Spectra of the Black Hole X-Ray Binary, A0620-00
• Tidal Effects on the Radial Velocities of V723 Mon: Additional Evidence for a Dark $3M_{\odot }$ Companion
• Forward Modelling the O3(a+b) GW transient mass distributions with BPASS by varying compact remnant mass and SNe kick prescriptions
• Quark stars in massive gravity might be candidates for the mass gap objects
• GW230529_181500: A Potential Primordial Binary Black Hole Merger in the Mass Gap
• Masses of Stellar Black Holes and Testing Theories of Gravitation
• Signs of Higher Multipoles and Orbital Precession in GW151226
• Dust Formation By Failed Supernovae
• Lower-mass-gap Black Holes in Dense Star Clusters
• Primordial black holes: constraints, potential evidence and prospects
• Multi-messenger Gravitational Lensing
• Possible binary neutron star merger history of the primary of GW230529
• Broadband X-ray analysis of 1E 1740.7-2942: constraints on spin, inclination and a tentative black hole mass
• Probing the Origin of Primordial Black Holes through Novel Gravitational Wave Spectrum
• Quantifying the evidence against a mass gap between black holes and neutron stars
• Formation of GW230529 from Isolated Binary Evolution
• Evolution of Black Holes in the Galaxy
• Spatial and Binary Parameter Distributions of Black Hole Binaries in the Milky Way Detectable with Gaia
• Does Nature allow formation of ultra-compact black hole X-ray binaries via accretion-induced collapse of neutron stars?
• Relativistic model of binary extreme-mass-ratio inspiral systems and their gravitational radiation
• Probe and Prejudice: Classification of compact objects and model comparison using EOS knowledge
• An Overview of Compact Star Populations and Some of Its Open Problems
• Hunting gravitational wave black holes with microlensing
• Model-independent discovery prospects for primordial black holes at LIGO
• Black Holes merging with Low Mass Gap Objects inside Globular Clusters
• The Historical X-ray Transient KY TrA in quiescence
• Multi-spectral Sirens: Gravitational-wave Cosmology with (Multi-) Sub-populations of Binary Black Holes
• Compact Object Formation and the Supernova Explosion Engine
• Swift Multiwavelength Follow-up of LVC S200224ca and the Implications for Binary Black Hole Mergers
• Single Millisecond Pulsars from Dynamical Interaction Processes in Dense Star Clusters
• Tests of General Relativity with GW230529: a neutron star merging with a lower mass-gap compact object
• Robust Models for Phase Shifts in Accreting Binary Stars
• Parameter Distributions of Binary Black Hole Mergers Near Supermassive Black Holes as Seen by Advanced Gravitational Wave Detectors
• The fate of rotating massive stars across cosmic times
• Spectral Properties of X-ray Binaries in Centaurus A
• Unexpected LIGO events and the Mirror World
• A Common Origin for Low Mass Ratio Events Observed by LIGO and Virgo in the First Half of the Third Observing Run
• Population Synthesis of Black Hole Binaries with Compact Star Companions
• What can we learn from the surface chemical composition of the optical companions of Soft X-ray transients?
• The Impact of Astrophysical Priors on Parameter Inference for GW230529
• Recent LIGO-Virgo discoveries
• Origin of Black Hole Spin in Lower-Mass-Gap Black Hole-Neutron Star Binaries
• Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background from PBH-ABH Mergers
• Measuring interacting binary mass functions with X-ray fluorescence
• I-C-Q relations for rapidly rotating stable hybrid stars
• Estimates of the early EM emission from compact binary mergers
• On the Theory of Gamma Ray Bursts and Hypernovae: The Black Hole Soft X-ray Transient Sources
• Mass Distribution and "Mass Gap" of Compact Stellar Remnants in Binary Systems
• Stellar-Mass Black Holes
• Neutron Star with Dark Matter Admixture: A Candidate for Bridging the Mass Gap
• Hierarchical searches for subsolar-mass binaries and the third-generation gravitational wave detector era
• X-ray constraint for the unseen companion of V723 Mon: it is a mass-gap black hole rather than binary neutron stars
• "Industrial-Scale" Black Hole Selection without a Satellite
• Challenging a binary neutron star merger interpretation of GW230529
• Can Big Black Holes Merge with the Smallest Black Holes?
• Characterizing Compact-object Binaries in the Lower Mass Gap with Gravitational Waves
• Binary black holes in the heat of merger
• Can dark-matter Q-balls grow to the mass gap masses?
• Lensing by primordial black holes: constraints from gravitational wave observations
• First Stars -- Type Ib Supernovae Connection
• Black Holes and Baryon Number Violation: Unveiling the Origins of Early Galaxies and the Low-Mass Gap
• Effectiveness of Stacks in the Stacked Hilbert-Huang Transform
• Where are Gaia's small black holes?
• Two fluid CFL strange quark stars with scalar dark matter: critical mass and mass gap implications
• Astrometric microlensing probes of the isolated neutron star population with Roman
• Modeling the outcome of supernova explosions in binary population synthesis using the stellar compactness
• The Connection between Gamma-Ray Bursts and Extremely Metal-Poor Stars as Nucleosynthetic Probes of the Early Universe
• Self-lensing binaries as probes of Supernova physics