Mind the Gap: The Location of the Lower Edge of the Pair-instability Supernova Black Hole Mass Gap

Farmer, Robert; Renzo, M.; Mink, S. E. de; Marchant, Pablo; Justham, Stephen

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab518b

Cited by 346 publications

(441 citation statements)

References 125 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

409

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…At the same time, a larger number of dynamical mergers reduces the number of light remnant BHs, M M 20 40 rem -  , making it harder to match observations and models in the M rem -a rem plane. (Belczynski et al 2016a;Woosley 2017Woosley , 2019Giacobbo et al 2018;Marchant et al 2019;Stevenson et al 2019;Renzo et al 2020), by stellar rotation (Mapelli et al 2020), by uncertainty on nuclear reaction rates (Farmer et al 2019), and by the collapse of a residual hydrogen envelope (Mapelli et al 2020). As a result, M BHmax might be as low as ∼40-45 M  (Belczynski et al 2016b) or as high as ∼65 M  (Giacobbo et al 2018).…”

Section: Impact Of the Formation Channelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fingerprints of Binary Black Hole Formation Channels Encoded in the Mass and Spin of Merger Remnants

Sedda¹,

Mapelli

Spera

et al. 2020

ApJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Binary black holes (BBHs) are thought to form in different environments, including the galactic field and (globular, nuclear, young, and open) star clusters. Here, we propose a method to estimate the fingerprints of the main BBH formation channels associated with these different environments. We show that the metallicity distribution of galaxies in the local universe along with the relative amount of mergers forming in the field or in star clusters determine the main properties of the BBH population. Our fiducial model predicts that the heaviest merger to date, GW170729, originated from a progenitor that underwent 2-3 merger events in a dense star cluster, possibly a galactic nucleus. The model predicts that at least one merger remnant out of a hundred BBH mergers in the local universe has mass <  M M 90 110 rem  , and one in a thousand can reach a mass as large as  M M 250 rem . Such massive black holes would bridge the gap between stellar-mass and intermediate-mass black holes. The relative number of low-and high-mass BBHs can help us unravel the fingerprints of different formation channels. Based on the assumptions of our model, we expect that isolated binaries are the main channel of BBH merger formation if~70% of the whole BBH population has remnants with masses < M 50  , whereas 6% of remnants having masses > M 75  points to a significant subpopulation of dynamically formed BBH binaries.

show abstract

Section: Impact Of the Formation Channelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fingerprints of Binary Black Hole Formation Channels Encoded in the Mass and Spin of Merger Remnants

Sedda¹,

Mapelli

Spera

et al. 2020

ApJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Currently, significant work is conducted to study what can modify the predicted location of this mass gap, including uncertainties in nuclear reaction rates (Takahashi 2018;Farmer et al 2019), convection (Renzo et al 2020), the presence of a massive hydrogen envelope at iron-core collapse (Di Carlo et al 2019), and accretion after BH formation (van Son et al 2020). Regarding rotation, work has been done to study how it affects the evolution of a star prior to a PPISN or PISN (Chatzopoulos et al 2013;Mapelli et al 2020), but there is still a large uncertainty on how rotation affects the actual hydrodynamics of these events.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of stellar rotation on the black hole mass-gap from pair-instability supernovae

Marchant

Moriya

2020

A&A

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Models of pair-instability supernovae (PISNe) predict a gap in black hole (BH) masses between ∼45 M⊙ and 120 M⊙, which is referred to as the upper BH mass-gap. With the advent of gravitational-wave astrophysics, it has become possible to test this prediction, and there is an important associated effort to understand which theoretical uncertainties modify the boundaries of this gap. In this work we study the impact of rotation on the hydrodynamics of PISNe, which leave no compact remnant, as well as the evolution of pulsational-PISNe (PPISNe), which undergo thermonuclear eruptions before forming a compact object. We perform simulations of nonrotating and rapidly rotating stripped helium stars in a metal-poor environment (Z⊙/50) in order to resolve the lower edge of the upper mass-gap. We find that the outcome of our simulations is dependent on the efficiency of angular momentum transport: models that include efficient coupling through the Spruit-Tayler dynamo shift the lower edge of the mass-gap upward by ∼4%, while simulations that do not include this effect shift it upward by ∼15%. From this, we expect that the lower edge of the upper mass-gap is dependent on BH spin, which can be tested as the number of observed BH mergers increases. Moreover, we show that stars undergoing PPISNe have extended envelopes (R ∼ 10 − 1000 R⊙) at iron-core collapse, making them promising progenitors for ultra-long gamma-ray bursts.

show abstract

“…Nevertheless, many uncertain or unknown parameters enter in the modeling of internal processes in stars (poorly known nuclear reaction rates, modeling of mixing processes, wind mass loss rates, etc.). Exploring the parameter space for single star evolution is a challenging task still being actively pursued (e.g., Woosley, 2017;Renzo et al, 2017;Sukhbold et al, 2018;Woosley, 2019;Farmer et al, 2019, for recent studies of single massive stars). When considering the evolution of two stars born together in a binary, i.e., the standard for massive stars, the number of dimensions of the parameter space increases very rapidly: not only the evolution of a massive binary system depends on the two initial masses of the stars, but also their initial orbital period and, possibly, eccentricity.…”

Section: Population Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

The explosive life of massive binaries

Renzo¹,

Zapartas²

2020

caosp

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Massive stars are born predominantly as members of binary (or higher multiplicity) systems, and the presence of a companion can significantly alter their life and final fate. Therefore, any observed sample of massive stars or associated transients is likely to be significantly influenced by the effects of binarity. Here, we focus on the relationship between massive binary evolution and core-collapse supernova events. In the vast majority of the cases, the first core-collapse event happening in a binary system unbinds the two stars. Studying the population of companion stars, either at the supernova site, or as "widowed" stars long after the explosion, can be used to constrain the previous orbital evolution of the binary progenitor, and explosion physics of their former companion. Specifically, the population of "widowed" stars might provide statistical constraints on the typical amplitude of black hole natal kicks without seeing neither the black holes nor the transient possibly associated to their formation. Binarity also has a large impact on the predicted population of supernova sub-types, including hydrogen-rich type II supernovae, with a significant fraction of hydrogen-rich stars at explosions being either merger products or accretors.

show abstract

Mind the Gap: The Location of the Lower Edge of the Pair-instability Supernova Black Hole Mass Gap

Cited by 346 publications

References 125 publications

Fingerprints of Binary Black Hole Formation Channels Encoded in the Mass and Spin of Merger Remnants

Fingerprints of Binary Black Hole Formation Channels Encoded in the Mass and Spin of Merger Remnants

The impact of stellar rotation on the black hole mass-gap from pair-instability supernovae

The explosive life of massive binaries

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About