Is GW190521 the merger of black holes from the first stellar generations?

GW190521 challenges our understanding of the late-stage evolution of massive stars and the effects of the pair-instability in particular. We discuss the possibility that stars at low or zero metallicity could retain most of their hydrogen envelope until the pre-supernova stage, avoid the pulsational pair-instability regime and produce a black hole with a mass in the mass gap by fallback. We present a series of new stellar evolution models at zero and low metallicity computed with the Geneva and MESA stellar evolution codes and compare to existing grids of models. Models with a metallicity in the range 0 – 0.0004 have three properties which favour higher BH masses. These are (i) lower mass-loss rates during the post-MS phase, (ii) a more compact star disfavouring binary interaction and (iii) possible H-He shell interactions which lower the CO core mass. We conclude that it is possible that GW190521 may be the merger of black holes produced directly by massive stars from the first stellar generations. Our models indicate BH masses up to 70-75 M⊙. Uncertainties related to convective mixing, mass loss, H-He shell interactions and pair-instability pulsations may increase this limit to ∼85M⊙.

Complex long-term activity of the post-nova X Serpentis

Aims. X Ser is a cataclysmic variable (CV) which erupted as a classical nova in 1903. In this work we use over 100 years of photometry to characterize the long-term light curve of X Ser, with the aim of interpreting the post-nova activity in X Ser in the context of behaviors in other old novae. Methods. This analysis of its long-term optical activity uses the data from the Digital Access to a Sky Century @ Harvard (DASCH), AAVSO, and Catalina Real-time Transient Survey databases, supplemented by the data of other authors. Results. We show that X Ser displays a strong complex activity with the characteristics of various CV types after the return to quiescence from its classical nova outburst. Both nova-like and dwarf nova (DN) features are present. The decaying branches of the individual post-nova outbursts display large mutual similarities and obey the Bailey law for outbursts of DNe. These outbursts of X Ser constitute a uniform group (inside-out outbursts), and their decaying branches can be explained by propagation of cooling front through the accretion disk. In the interpretation, X Ser rapidly transitioned to a thermal-viscous instability regime of the disk, initially only intermittently. The occurrence of the DN outbursts shortly after the end of the nova outburst suggests that the mass transfer rate into the disk was usually not sufficiently high to prevent a thermal-viscous instability of this post-nova. The very long orbital period, and hence large accretion disk of X Ser can contribute to this.