On the Likely Dynamical Origin of GW191109 and Binary Black Hole Mergers with Negative Effective Spin

Zhang, Rachel C.; Fragione, Giacomo; Kimball, Chase; Kalogera, Vicky

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ace4c1

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 112 publications

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“…Unequivocal detections of a hierarchical BBH merger via GW observations will help understand the formation channels and histories of such systems. While studies often focus on identifying a hierarchical merger from antialigned spins (see, e.g., Fishbach et al 2022;Zhang et al 2023), we have focused on both the measurement of spin-precession in addition to antialignment in a simulated BBH merger population from realistic cluster models (Rodriguez et al 2022). From this study, the key insights are as follows:…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While a positive χ eff is possible, such systems may not be distinguishable from other formation channels whereas spin antialignment is difficult to form in the field (Rodriguez et al 2016). Being a typically better-measured parameter (Ng et al 2018;Biscoveanu et al 2021), studies have focused on negative χ eff as a potential sign for a hierarchical merger event (e.g., Baibhav et al 2020;Fishbach et al 2022;Zhang et al 2023). However, due to the inherent isotropic spin orientation distribution that is expected for hierarchical mergers in most astrophysical environments, many more systems will have large in-plane spins as opposed to large spins antialigned with the orbital angular momentum.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spin Doctors: How to Diagnose a Hierarchical Merger Origin

Payne,

Kremer,

Zevin

2024

ApJL

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Gravitational-wave observations provide the unique opportunity of studying black hole formation channels and histories—but only if we can identify their origin. One such formation mechanism is the dynamical synthesis of black hole binaries in dense stellar systems. Given the expected isotropic distribution of component spins of binary black holes in gas-free dynamical environments, the presence of antialigned or in-plane spins with respect to the orbital angular momentum is considered a tell-tale sign of a merger’s dynamical origin. Even in the scenario where birth spins of black holes are low, hierarchical mergers attain large component spins due to the orbital angular momentum of the prior merger. However, measuring such spin configurations is difficult. Here, we quantify the efficacy of the spin parameters encoding aligned-spin (χ eff) and in-plane spin (χ p ) at classifying such hierarchical systems. Using Monte Carlo cluster simulations to generate a realistic distribution of hierarchical merger parameters from globular clusters, we can infer mergers’ χ eff and χ p . The cluster populations are simulated using Advanced LIGO-Virgo sensitivity during the detector network’s third observing period and projections for design sensitivity. Using a “likelihood-ratio”-based statistic, we find that ∼2% of the recovered population by the current gravitational-wave detector network has a statistically significant χ p measurement, whereas no χ eff measurement was capable of confidently determining a system to be antialigned with the orbital angular momentum at current detector sensitivities. These results indicate that measuring spin-precession through χ p is a more detectable signature of hierarchical mergers and dynamical formation than antialigned spins.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spin Doctors: How to Diagnose a Hierarchical Merger Origin

Payne,

Kremer,

Zevin

2024

ApJL

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“…For all models, we find significant support for negative values of χ eff , confirming the results in Refs. [14,289]. In the latter, the possibility of formation by dynamical capture for the binary generating this event is discussed.…”

Section: Gw191109_010717mentioning

confidence: 96%

Fundamental physics with gravitational waves

Puecher

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Since their prediction in Einstein’s theory of general relativity, gravitational waves took a hundred years to be actually detected. Nevertheless, the wait was well rewarded since measuring gravitational waves did not only provide a strong confirmation of the predictions of general relativity, but also offered a new way to study fundamental interactions. The information extracted from gravitational-wave signals allows us to probe the theory of general relativity in the strong-field regime, as well as to study the equation of state describing the extremely dense matter inside neutron stars. In this thesis, we investigated both these aspects. In particular, we developed a method to probe general relativity by looking at the amplitude of subdominant modes. On the other hand, we constructed a model that describes the gravitational-wave signal emitted during the full coalescence of a binary neutron star system, including the postmerger, and we employed it in parameter estimation analyses. We also turned our attention to next-generation detectors, which are expected to increase sensitivity and to extend the detection bandwidth both at lower and higher frequencies with respect to current detectors. We studied how this will improve our postmerger analysis, but also the measurements of the system’s parameters from the inspiral part of the signal only. In particular, for the latter, we investigated how the different designs proposed for the Einstein Telescope will affect such measurements. The high sensitivity of future detectors, however, comes also with downsides: the computational cost of the analyses will increase, thus it is necessary to find alternative techniques in order to make the analyses feasible; furthermore, the high precision with which we will be able to measure the sources’ parameters will enhance the effect of systematic errors, induced, for example, by the waveform models employed to analyze the data. For this reason, we analyzed some of the gravitational-wave events in the latest catalog with different waveform models, in order to identify possible preferences among the models and, consequently, highlight potential systematics.

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Determining the Hubble constant with AGN-assisted black hole mergers

Alves,

Sullivan,

Yang

et al. 2024

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Gravitational waves from neutron star mergers have long been considered a promising way to measure the Hubble constant, H0, which describes the local expansion rate of the universe. While black hole mergers are more abundantly observed, their expected lack of electromagnetic emission and poor gravitational-wave localization make them less well suited for measuring H0. Black hole mergers within the disks of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) could be an exception. Accretion from the AGN disk may produce an electromagnetic signal, pointing observers to the host galaxy. Alternatively, the low number density of AGNs could help identify the host galaxy of $1-5~{{\%}}$ of mergers. Here we show that black hole mergers in AGN disks may be a sensitive way to determine H0 with gravitational waves. If 1% (10%) of LIGO’s observations occur in AGN disks with identified host galaxies, we could measure H0 with 12% (4%) uncertainty in five years, possibly comparable to the sensitivity of neutron star mergers and set to considerably improve current gravitational wave measurements.

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On the Likely Dynamical Origin of GW191109 and Binary Black Hole Mergers with Negative Effective Spin

Cited by 6 publications

References 112 publications

Spin Doctors: How to Diagnose a Hierarchical Merger Origin

Spin Doctors: How to Diagnose a Hierarchical Merger Origin

Fundamental physics with gravitational waves

Determining the Hubble constant with AGN-assisted black hole mergers

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