Kavli Affiliate: Daniel E. Holz
| First 5 Authors: Amanda M. Farah, Maya Fishbach, Daniel E. Holz, ,
| Summary:
When modeling the population of merging binary black holes, analyses
generally focus on characterizing the distribution of primary (i.e. more
massive) black holes in the binary, while simplistic prescriptions are used for
the distribution of secondary masses. However, the secondary mass distribution
provides a fundamental observational constraint on the formation history of
coalescing binary black holes. If both black holes experience similar stellar
evolutionary processes prior to collapse, as might be expected in dynamical
formation channels, the primary and secondary mass distributions would show
similar features. If they follow distinct evolutionary pathways (for example,
due to binary interactions that break symmetry between the initially more
massive and less massive star), their mass distributions may differ. We
explicitly fit the secondary mass distribution, finding that if the primary and
secondary mass distributions are different, the previously-identified peak in
the primary mass distribution may be driven by an even larger peak in the
secondary mass distribution. Alternatively, if we assume that the two masses
are drawn from the same underlying distribution, they both show a peak at
$31.4_{-2.6}^{+2.3} , M_{odot}$. This value is shifted lower than that
obtained when assuming the peak only exists in the marginal primary mass
distribution, placing this feature in further tension with expectations from a
pulsational pair-instability supernova pileup. We anticipate that by the end of
the fifth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing run, we will be able to determine whether
the data prefer distinct or identical component mass distributions to
$>4sigma$, providing important clues to the formation history of coalescing
binary black holes.
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