Detection of LIGO-Virgo binary black holes in the pair-instability mass gap
Citations Over TimeTop 16% of 2021 papers
Abstract
By probing the population of binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected by LIGO-Virgo, we can infer properties about the underlying black hole formation channels. A mechanism known as pair-instability (PI) supernova is expected to prevent the formation of black holes from stellar collapse with mass greater than $\ensuremath{\sim}40--65\text{ }\text{ }{M}_{\ensuremath{\bigodot}}$ and less than $\ensuremath{\sim}120\text{ }\text{ }{M}_{\ensuremath{\bigodot}}$. Any BBH merger detected by LIGO-Virgo with a component black hole in this so-called PI mass gap likely originated from an alternative formation channel. Here, we firmly establish GW190521 as an outlier to the stellar-mass BBH population if the PI mass gap begins at or below $65\text{ }\text{ }{M}_{\ensuremath{\bigodot}}$. In addition, for a PI lower boundary of $40--50\text{ }\text{ }{M}_{\ensuremath{\bigodot}}$, we find it unlikely that the remaining distribution of detected BBH events, excluding GW190521, is consistent with the stellar-mass BBH population.
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