Baxter, Eric J. and Croon, Djuna and McDermott, Samuel D. and Sakstein, Jeremy (2021) 'Find the Gap: Black Hole Population Analysis with an Astrophysically Motivated Mass Function.', The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 916 (2). L16.
Abstract
We introduce a novel black hole mass function that realistically models the physics of pair-instability supernovae with a minimal number of parameters. Applying this to all events in the LIGO-Virgo Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog 2 (GWTC-2), we detect a peak at ${M}_{\mathrm{BHMG}}={46}_{-6}^{+17}\,{M}_{\odot }$. Repeating the analysis without the black holes from the event GW190521, we find this feature at MBHMG = 54 ± 6 M⊙. These results establish the edge of the anticipated "black hole mass gap" at a value compatible with the expectation from standard stellar structure theory. The mass gap manifests itself as a discontinuity in the mass function and is populated by a distinct, less-abundant population of higher-mass black holes. We find that the primary black hole population scales with power-law index −1.95 ± 0.51 (−1.97 ± 0.44) with (without) GW190521, consistent with models of star formation. Using Bayesian techniques, we establish that our mass function fits a new catalog of black hole masses approximately as well as pre-existing phenomenological mass functions. We also remark on the implications of these results for constraining or discovering new phenomena in nuclear and particle physics.
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Full text: | (VoR) Version of Record Download PDF (1196Kb) |
Status: | Peer-reviewed |
Publisher Web site: | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ac11fc |
Publisher statement: | © 2021. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. |
Date accepted: | 07 July 2021 |
Date deposited: | 14 October 2021 |
Date of first online publication: | 30 July 2021 |
Date first made open access: | 14 October 2021 |
Save or Share this output
Export: | |
Look up in GoogleScholar |