BPASS predictions for binary black hole mergers

By J. Eldridge, E. Stanway. 2016

200 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Using the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis code, BPASS, we have calculated the rates, time-scales and mass distributions for binary black hole (BH) mergers as a function of metallicity. We consider these in the context of the recently reported first Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) event detection. We find that the event has a very low probability of arising from a stellar population with initial metallicity mass fraction above Z = 0.010 (Z ≳ 0.5 Z⊙). Binary BH merger events with the reported masses are most likely in populations below 0.008 (Z ≲ 0.4 Z⊙). Events of this kind can occur at all stellar population ages from 3 Myr up to the age of the Universe, but constitute only 0.1–0.4 per cent of binary BH mergers between metallicities of Z = 0.001 and 0.008. However at metallicity Z = 10−4, 26 per cent of binary BH mergers would be expected to have the reported masses. At this metallicity, the progenitor merger times can be close to ≈10 Gyr and rotationally mixed stars evolving through quasi-homogeneous evolution, due to mass transfer in a binary, dominate the rate. The masses inferred for the BHs in the binary progenitor of GW 150914 are amongst the most massive expected at anything but the lowest metallicities in our models. We discuss the implications of our analysis for the electromagnetic follow-up of future LIGO event detections.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/46498a307e84d4f041cbc8fb82adee2a2ef07792

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Citations in the corpus

Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis Version 2.1: Construction, Observational Verification, and New Results (2017, methodology): “Further insights will come from modelling the black hole mass distribution arising from future gravitational wave sources (see Eldridge & Stanway 2016), while also using results from gravitational microlensing to determine the black hole mass distribution of single freefloating black holes in the…”
COSMIC Variance in Binary Population Synthesis (2019, methodology): “One approach is to modify a stellar evolution code previously developed for single stars to include the effects of binary evolution, as found in ev/STARS/TWIN (Pols et al. 1995; Nelson & Eggleton 2001), the Brussels population number synthesis code, PNS (De Donder & Vanbeveren 2004), BINSTAR (Siess ”
Where Are LIGO’s Big Black Holes? (2017, methodology): “…Mmax ≤ 100M is motivated by the LIGO stellar mass BBH search as well as by population synthesis studies, which usually predict that the BH mass distribution would extend to 80–130M were it not for a pair-instability mass gap (Eldridge & Stanway 2016; Belczynski et al. 2016c; Spera et al. 2016).”
Binary Black Hole Population Properties Inferred from the First and Second Observing Runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo (2018, background): “…Belczynski et al. 2002, 2007, 2008, 2014; Voss & Tauris 2003; Dewi et al. 2006; Dominik et al. 2013; Mennekens & Vanbeveren 2014; Spera et al. 2015; Eldridge & Stanway 2016; Mapelli et al. 2017; Stevenson et al. 2017b; Tauris et al. 2017; Chruslinska et al. 2018; Giacobbo & Mapelli 2018; Giacobbo…”
Merging black hole binaries with the SEVN code (2018, methodology): “Alternative approaches to fitting formulas consist in integrating stellar evolution on the fly (e.g. MESA, Paxton et al. 2011, 2013, 2015; BPASS, Eldridge & Stanway 2016; Eldridge et al. 2017) or in reading stellar evolution from look-up tables (e.g. SEVN Spera et al. 2015; Spera & Mapelli 2017;…”
Forming short-period Wolf–Rayet X-ray binaries and double black holes through stable mass transfer (2017, background): “…and will, when their donor stars overflow their Roche lobes, go into CE evolution and spiral in, as described e.g. by Tutukov & Yungelson (1993), Portegies Zwart & Verbunt (1996), Lipunov et al. (1997) and later papers and recently by Belczynski et al. (2016) and Eldridge & Stanway (2016).”
Titans of the early Universe: The Prato statement on the origin of the first supermassive black holes (2018, methodology): “A more realistic treatment necessitates incorporating more detailed models for SEDs from either single (Starburst99, Leitherer et al. 1999), or more recently available binary (BPASS, Eldridge & Stanway 2016) stellar population and spectral synthesis codes.”
The effect of pair-instability mass loss on black-hole mergers (2016, background): “…produced from the evolution of massive stars, whether from classical isolated evolution in low-metallicity environments (Belczynski et al. 2016a; Eldridge & Stanway 2016); via the aid of rapid rotation and hence homogeneous chemical evolution (de Mink & Mandel 2016; Woosley 2016); via…”
Rates of compact object coalescences (2021, background): “This mode of quasi chemically homogeneous evolution could also make a significant contribution to high-mass BH-BH mergers originating in low-metallicity environments (Eldridge and Stanway, 2016).”
The effect of the metallicity-specific star formation history on double compact object mergers (2019, methodology): “Altogether this general method is similar to works such as Langer & Norman (2006), Dominik et al. (2013), Mandel & de Mink (2016), Eldridge & Stanway (2016), Madau & Fragos (2017), and Chruslinska & Nelemans (2019).”
Two populations of LIGO-Virgo black holes (2020, background): “Due to these uncertainties the estimated rates of BH-BH mergers produced via isolated binary evolution vary quite substantially: 10− 300 Gpc−3yr−1 [95, 97–99].”
RECONCILING THE STELLAR AND NEBULAR SPECTRA OF HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES (2016, methodology): “We have also included a suite of models from the new release of “Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis” (BPASSv214; Eldridge & Stanway 2016; Stanway et al. 2016) all with an IMF index of −2.35.”
Binary Black Hole Mergers in the First Advanced LIGO Observing Run (2016, result): “[179] J.”
Progenitors of gravitational wave mergers: binary evolution with the stellar grid-based code ComBinE (2018, result): “Examples include Bloom et al. (1999); Belczynski et al. (2002); Voss & Tauris (2003); Belczynski et al. (2008); Dominik et al. (2012); Mennekens & Vanbeveren (2014); Belczynski et al. (2016); Eldridge & Stanway (2016); Stevenson et al. (2017a); Chruslinska et al. (2018); Vigna-Gómez et al. (2018).”
Re-evaluating old stellar populations (2018, result): “…of binary evolution modelling, is that the expected rate of astrophysical transients (supernovae, gamma ray bursts and gravitational wave chirps amongst others) can be inferred from a population model and compared to the data (see e.g. Xiao & Eldridge 2015; Eldridge & Stanway 2016, or ES17).”