scholarly journals Searching for eccentricity: signatures of dynamical formation in the first gravitational-wave transient catalogue of LIGO and Virgo

2019 ◽  
Vol 490 (4) ◽  
pp. 5210-5216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isobel M Romero-Shaw ◽  
Paul D Lasky ◽  
Eric Thrane
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Bayesian Inference ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
Globular Clusters ◽  
Reference Frequency ◽  
Binary Black Holes ◽  
Binary Black Hole ◽  
Upper Limits ◽  
Formation History

ABSTRACT Binary black holes are thought to form primarily via two channels: isolated evolution and dynamical formation. The component masses, spins, and eccentricity of a binary black hole system provide clues to its formation history. We focus on eccentricity, which can be a signature of dynamical formation. Employing the spin-aligned eccentric waveform model seobnre, we perform Bayesian inference to measure the eccentricity of binary black hole merger events in the first gravitational-wave transient catalogue of LIGO and Virgo. We find that all of these events are consistent with zero eccentricity. We set upper limits on eccentricity ranging from 0.02 to 0.05 with 90  per cent confidence at a reference frequency of $10\, {\rm Hz}$. These upper limits do not significantly constrain the fraction of LIGO–Virgo events formed dynamically in globular clusters, because only $\sim 5{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ are expected to merge with measurable eccentricity. However, with the gravitational-wave transient catalogue set to expand dramatically over the coming months, it may soon be possible to significantly constrain the fraction of mergers taking place in globular clusters using eccentricity measurements.

scholarly journals Progenitors of binary black hole mergers detected by LIGO

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (S329) ◽  
pp. 118-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantin Postnov ◽  
Alexander Kuranov
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
Globular Clusters ◽  
Close Binary ◽  
Formation Mechanisms ◽  
Binary Black Holes ◽  
Mass Distributions ◽  
Metal Abundance ◽  
Population Iii Stars

AbstractPossible formation mechanisms of massive close binary black holes that can merge in the Hubble time to produce powerful gravitational wave bursts detected during advanced LIGO O1 science run are briefly discussed. The pathways include the evolution from field low-metallicity massive binaries, the dynamical formation in globular clusters and primordial black holes. Low effective black hole spins inferred for LIGO GW150914 and LTV151012 events are discussed. Population synthesis calculations of the expected spin and chirp mass distributions from the standard field massive binary formation channel are presented for different metallicities (from zero-metal Population III stars up to solar metal abundance). We conclude that that merging binary black holes can contain systems from different formation channels, discrimination between which can be made with increasing statistics of mass and spin measurements from ongoing and future gravitational wave observations.

scholarly journals Upper limits on the temperature of inspiraling astrophysical black holes

2021 ◽  
Vol 81 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Ka-Wai Chung ◽  
Mairi Sakellariadou
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
Binary Black Hole ◽  
Upper Limits ◽  
Gravity Effects ◽  
Wave Event ◽  
Orbital Phase ◽  
Intrinsic Radiation ◽  
Peak Luminosity

AbstractWe present a method to constrain the temperature of astrophysical black holes through detecting the inspiral phase of binary black hole coalescences. At sufficient separation, inspiraling black holes can be regarded as isolated objects, hence their temperature can still be defined. Due to their intrinsic radiation, inspiraling black holes lose part of their masses during the inspiral phase. As a result, coalescence speeds up, introducing a correction to the orbital phase. We show that this dephasing may allow us to constrain the temperature of inspiraling black holes through gravitational-wave detection. Using the binary black-hole coalescences of the first two observing runs of the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors, we constrain the temperature of parental black holes to be less than about $$ 10^9 $$ 10 9  K. Such a constraint corresponds to luminosity of about $$ 10^{-16} M_{\odot }~\mathrm{s}^{-1} $$ 10 - 16 M ⊙ s - 1 for a black hole of $$ 20 M_{\odot } $$ 20 M ⊙ , which is about 20 orders of magnitude below the peak luminosity of the corresponding gravitational-wave event, indicating no evidence for strong quantum-gravity effects through the detection of the inspiral phase.

scholarly journals mocca-survey Database I: Binary black hole mergers from globular clusters with intermediate mass black holes

2020 ◽  
Vol 498 (3) ◽  
pp. 4287-4294
Author(s):  
Jongsuk Hong ◽  
Abbas Askar ◽  
Mirek Giersz ◽  
Arkadiusz Hypki ◽  
Suk-Jin Yoon
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Gravitational Waves ◽  
Globular Clusters ◽  
Stellar Mass ◽  
Intermediate Mass ◽  
Binary Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole Binaries ◽  
Binary Black Hole ◽  
Intermediate Mass Black Holes

ABSTRACT The dynamical formation of black hole binaries in globular clusters that merge due to gravitational waves occurs more frequently in higher stellar density. Meanwhile, the probability to form intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) also increases with the density. To explore the impact of the formation and growth of IMBHs on the population of stellar mass black hole binaries from globular clusters, we analyse the existing large survey of Monte Carlo globular cluster simulation data (mocca-survey Database I). We show that the number of binary black hole mergers agrees with the prediction based on clusters’ initial properties when the IMBH mass is not massive enough or the IMBH seed forms at a later time. However, binary black hole formation and subsequent merger events are significantly reduced compared to the prediction when the present-day IMBH mass is more massive than ${\sim}10^4\, \rm M_{\odot }$ or the present-day IMBH mass exceeds about 1 per cent of cluster’s initial total mass. By examining the maximum black hole mass in the system at the moment of black hole binary escaping, we find that ∼90 per cent of the merging binary black holes escape before the formation and growth of the IMBH. Furthermore, large fraction of stellar mass black holes are merged into the IMBH or escape as single black holes from globular clusters in cases of massive IMBHs, which can lead to the significant underpopulation of binary black holes merging with gravitational waves by a factor of 2 depending on the clusters’ initial distributions.

scholarly journals Measuring the eccentricity of binary black holes in GWTC-1 by using the inspiral-only waveform

2020 ◽  
Vol 495 (1) ◽  
pp. 466-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shichao Wu ◽  
Zhoujian Cao ◽  
Zong-Hong Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Credible Interval ◽  
Reference Frequency ◽  
Binary Black Holes ◽  
Upper Limits ◽  
Large Eccentricity ◽  
Near Future

ABSTRACT In this article, we estimate the eccentricity of 10 binary black holes (BBHs) in the Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog GWTC-1 by using the inspiral-only BBH waveform template EccentricFD. First, we test our method with simulated eccentric BBHs. Afterwards we apply the method to real BBH gravitational-wave data. We find that the BBHs in GWTC-1, with the exception of GW151226, GW170608 and GW170729, show very small eccentricity. Their upper limits on eccentricity range from 0.033–0.084 with 90 per cent credible interval at a reference frequency of 10 Hz. For GW151226, GW170608 and GW170729, the upper limits are higher than 0.1. The relatively large eccentricity of GW151226 and GW170729 is probably due to ignoring χeff and the low signal-to-noise ratio, and GW170608 is worthy of follow-up research. We also point out the limitations of the inspiral-only non-spinning waveform template in eccentricity measurement. Measurement of BBH eccentricity helps us to understand its formation mechanism. With an increase in the number of BBH gravitational-wave events and a more complete eccentric BBH waveform template, this will become a viable method in the near future.

scholarly journals The astrophysical odds of GW151216

2020 ◽  
Vol 498 (2) ◽  
pp. 1905-1910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Ashton ◽  
Eric Thrane
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
Bayesian Method ◽  
Massive Stars ◽  
Stellar Mass ◽  
Population Analyses ◽  
Wave Detection ◽  
Binary Black Hole ◽  
Bona Fide

ABSTRACT The gravitational-wave candidate GW151216 is a proposed binary black hole event from the first observing run of the Advanced LIGO detectors. Not identified as a bona fide signal by the LIGO–Virgo collaboration, there is disagreement as to its authenticity, which is quantified by pastro, the probability that the event is astrophysical in origin. Previous estimates of pastro from different groups range from 0.18 to 0.71, making it unclear whether this event should be included in population analyses, which typically require pastro > 0.5. Whether GW151216 is an astrophysical signal or not has implications for the population properties of stellar-mass black holes and hence the evolution of massive stars. Using the astrophysical odds, a Bayesian method that uses the signal coherence between detectors and a parametrized model of non-astrophysical detector noise, we find that pastro = 0.03, suggesting that GW151216 is unlikely to be a genuine signal. We also analyse GW150914 (the first gravitational-wave detection) and GW151012 (initially considered to be an ambiguous detection) and find pastro values of 1 and 0.997, respectively. We argue that the astrophysical odds presented here improve upon traditional methods for distinguishing signals from noise.

scholarly journals Constrains on the electric charges of the binary black holes with GWTC-1 events

2021 ◽  
Vol 81 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hai-Tang Wang ◽  
Peng-Cheng Li ◽  
Jin-Liang Jiang ◽  
Guan-Wen Yuan ◽  
Yi-Ming Hu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
Electric Charge ◽  
Modified Gravity ◽  
Fisher Information Matrix ◽  
Information Matrix ◽  
Charge Effect ◽  
Leading Order ◽  
Binary Black Holes ◽  
Binary Black Hole

AbstractTesting black hole’s charged property is a fascinating topic in modified gravity and black hole astrophysics. In the first Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC-1), ten binary black hole merger events have been formally reported, and these gravitational wave signals have significantly enhanced our understanding of the black hole. In this paper, we try to constrain the amount of electric charge with the parameterized post-Einsteinian framework by treating the electric charge as a small perturbation in a Bayesian way. We find that the current limits in our work are consistent with the result of Fisher information matrix method in previous works. We also develop a waveform model considering a leading order charge effect for binary black hole inspiral.

scholarly journals The Eccentric and Accelerating Stellar Binary Black Hole Mergers in Galactic Nuclei: Observing in Ground and Space Gravitational-wave Observatories

2021 ◽  
Vol 923 (2) ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Fupeng Zhang ◽  
Xian Chen ◽  
Lijing Shao ◽  
Kohei Inayoshi
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Galactic Nuclei ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
High Eccentricity ◽  
Massive Black Hole ◽  
Binary Black Holes ◽  
Binary Black Hole ◽  
Space Observatories

Abstract We study the stellar binary black holes (BBHs) inspiraling/merging in galactic nuclei based on our numerical method GNC. We find that 3%–40% of all newborn BBHs will finally merge due to various dynamical effects. In a five-year mission, up to 104, 105, and ∼100 of BBHs inspiraling/merging in galactic nuclei can be detected with signal-to-noise ration >8 in Advanced LIGO (aLIGO), Einstein/DECIGO, and TianQin/LISA/TaiJi, respectively. Roughly tens are detectable in both LISA/TaiJi/TianQin and aLIGO. These BBHs have two unique characteristics. (1) Significant eccentricities: 1%–3%, 2%–7%, or 30%–90% of them have e i > 0.1 when they enter into aLIGO, Einstein, or space observatories, respectively. Such high eccentricities provide a possible explanation for that of GW190521. Most highly eccentric BBHs are not detectable in LISA/Tianqin/TaiJi before entering into aLIGO/Einstein, as their strain becomes significant only at f GW ≳ 0.1 Hz. DECIGO becomes an ideal observatory to detect those events, as it can fully cover the rising phase. (2) Up to 2% of BBHs can inspiral/merge at distances ≲103 r SW from the massive black hole, with significant accelerations, such that the Doppler phase drift of ∼10–105 of them can be detected with signal-to-noise ratio >8 in space observatories. The energy density of the gravitational-wave backgrounds (GWBs) contributed by these BBHs deviates from the power-law slope of 2/3 at f GW ≲ 1 mHz. The high eccentricity, significant accelerations, and the different profile of the GWB of these sources make them distinguishable, and thus interesting for future gravitational-wave detections and tests of relativities.

scholarly journals The origin of spin in binary black holes

2020 ◽  
Vol 635 ◽  
pp. A97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone S. Bavera ◽  
Tassos Fragos ◽  
Ying Qin ◽  
Emmanouil Zapartas ◽  
Coenraad J. Neijssel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Hybrid Technique ◽  
Population Synthesis ◽  
Binary Black Holes ◽  
Common Envelope ◽  
The Common ◽  
Binary Evolution

Context. After years of scientific progress, the origin of stellar binary black holes is still a great mystery. Several formation channels for merging black holes have been proposed in the literature. As more merger detections are expected with future gravitational-wave observations, population synthesis studies can help to distinguish between them. Aims. We study the formation of coalescing binary black holes via the evolution of isolated field binaries that go through the common envelope phase in order to obtain the combined distributions of observables such as black-hole spins, masses and cosmological redshifts of mergers. Methods. To achieve this aim, we used a hybrid technique that combines the parametric binary population synthesis code COMPAS with detailed binary evolution simulations performed with the MESA code. We then convolved our binary evolution calculations with the redshift- and metallicity-dependent star-formation rate and the selection effects of gravitational-wave detectors to obtain predictions of observable properties. Results. By assuming efficient angular momentum transport, we are able to present a model that is capable of simultaneously predicting the following three main gravitational-wave observables: the effective inspiral spin parameter χeff, the chirp mass Mchirp and the cosmological redshift of merger zmerger. We find an excellent agreement between our model and the ten events from the first two advanced detector observing runs. We make predictions for the third observing run O3 and for Advanced LIGO design sensitivity. We expect approximately 80% of events with χeff <  0.1, while the remaining 20% of events with χeff ≥ 0.1 are split into ∼10% with Mchirp <  15 M⊙ and ∼10% with Mchirp ≥ 15 M⊙. Moreover, we find that Mchirp and χeff distributions are very weakly dependent on the detector sensitivity. Conclusions. The favorable comparison of the existing LIGO/Virgo observations with our model predictions gives support to the idea that the majority, if not all of the observed mergers, originate from the evolution of isolated binaries. The first-born black hole has negligible spin because it lost its envelope after it expanded to become a giant star, while the spin of the second-born black hole is determined by the tidal spin up of its naked helium star progenitor by the first-born black hole companion after the binary finished the common-envelope phase.

scholarly journals Quasi-normal modes of static spherically symmetric black holes in f(R) theory

2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayak Datta ◽  
Sukanta Bose
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
General Relativity ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
Normal Modes ◽  
Einstein Frame ◽  
Spherically Symmetric ◽  
Inhomogeneous Term ◽  
Binary Black Hole ◽  
Special Case

AbstractWe study the quasi-normal modes (QNMs) of static, spherically symmetric black holes in f(R) theories. We show how these modes in theories with non-trivial f(R) are fundamentally different from those in general relativity. In the special case of $$f(R) = \alpha R^2$$f(R)=αR2 theories, it has been recently argued that iso-spectrality between scalar and vector modes breaks down. Here, we show that such a break down is quite general across all f(R) theories, as long as they satisfy $$f''(0)/(1+f''(0)) \ne 0$$f′′(0)/(1+f′′(0))≠0, where a prime denotes derivative of the function with respect to its argument. We specifically discuss the origin of the breaking of isospectrality. We also show that along with this breaking the QNMs receive a correction that arises when $$f''(0)/(1+f'(0)) \ne 0$$f′′(0)/(1+f′(0))≠0 owing to the inhomogeneous term that it introduces in the mode equation. We discuss how these differences affect the “ringdown” phase of binary black hole mergers and the possibility of constraining f(R) models with gravitational-wave observations. We also find that even though the iso-spectrality is broken in f(R) theories, in general, nevertheless in the corresponding scalar-tensor theories in the Einstein frame it is unbroken.

scholarly journals Implications of Eccentric Observations on Binary Black Hole Formation Channels

2021 ◽  
Vol 921 (2) ◽  
pp. L43
Author(s):  
Michael Zevin ◽  
Isobel M. Romero-Shaw ◽  
Kyle Kremer ◽  
Eric Thrane ◽  
Paul D. Lasky
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Gravitational Wave ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Star Clusters ◽  
Selection Effects ◽  
Orbital Eccentricity ◽  
Hole Formation ◽  
Local Universe ◽  
Binary Black Holes ◽  
Binary Black Hole

Abstract Orbital eccentricity is one of the most robust discriminators for distinguishing between dynamical and isolated formation scenarios of binary black hole mergers using gravitational-wave observatories such as LIGO and Virgo. Using state-of-the-art cluster models, we show how selection effects impact the detectable distribution of eccentric mergers from clusters. We show that the observation (or lack thereof) of eccentric binary black hole mergers can significantly constrain the fraction of detectable systems that originate from dynamical environments, such as dense star clusters. After roughly 150 observations, observing no eccentric binary signals would indicate that clusters cannot make up the majority of the merging binary black hole population in the local universe (95% credibility). However, if dense star clusters dominate the rate of eccentric mergers and a single system is confirmed to be measurably eccentric in the first and second gravitational-wave transient catalogs, clusters must account for at least 14% of detectable binary black hole mergers. The constraints on the fraction of detectable systems from dense star clusters become significantly tighter as the number of eccentric observations grows and will be constrained to within 0.5 dex once 10 eccentric binary black holes are observed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document