Machine learning regressors trained on Rapster simulations forecast that globular clusters rarely host black holes above 100 solar masses while a few nuclear star clusters may exceed this threshold.
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Binary Black Hole Mergers from Globular Clusters: Masses, Merger Rates, and the Impact of Stellar Evolution
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abstract
The recent discovery of GW150914, the binary black hole merger detected by Advanced LIGO, has the potential to revolutionize observational astrophysics. But to fully utilize this new window into the universe, we must compare these new observations to detailed models of binary black hole formation throughout cosmic time. Expanding upon our previous work (Rodriguez et al., 2015), we study merging binary black holes formed in globular clusters using our Monte Carlo approach to stellar dynamics. We have created a new set of 52 cluster models with different masses, metallicities, and radii to fully characterize the binary black hole merger rate. These models include all the relevant dynamical processes (such as two-body relaxation, strong encounters, and three-body binary formation) and agree well with detailed direct N-body simulations. In addition, we have enhanced our stellar evolution algorithms with updated metallicity-dependent stellar wind and supernova prescriptions, allowing us to compare our results directly to the most recent population synthesis predictions for merger rates from isolated binary evolution. We explore the relationship between a cluster's global properties and the population of binary black holes that it produces. In particular, we derive a numerically calibrated relationship between the merger times of ejected black hole binaries and a cluster's mass and radius. We explore the masses and mass ratios of these binaries as a function of redshift, and find a merger rate of ~5 Gpc$^{-3}$ yr$^{-1}$ in the local universe, with 80% of sources having total masses from $32M_{\odot}$ to $64M_{\odot}$. Under standard assumptions, approximately 1 out of every 7 binary black hole mergers in the local universe will have originated in a globular cluster, but we also explore the sensitivity of this result to different assumptions for binary stellar evolution. [Abridged]
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Multiband observations of eccentric binary black holes can constrain dipole-radiation deviations from general relativity to |b| ≲ 10^{-7} for a GW231123-like event when combining one year of space-based data with ground-informed priors.
High initial eccentricities in stellar-mass black hole binaries produce a stochastic gravitational wave background distinguishable by LISA from quasi-circular models, enabling upper bounds on eccentricity and separation of environmental effects for dense gas.
Maximum-likelihood-based posterior predictive checks detect model misspecification better than event-level versions for uncertain spin tilts, but current detector sensitivity limits their power; the Gaussian Component Spins model underpredicts high spin magnitudes and overpredicts anti-aligned tilts
Finite coherence during tidal Bohr crossings in axion clouds produces distinct, localized gravitational-wave waveforms and orbital responses in black-hole binaries.
A new framework projects perturbations onto resonant frequencies via Hansen coefficients to produce efficient coupled ODEs for orbital elements in GW-driven relativistic binaries, demonstrated on tidal fields and accretion disks.
The chirp-mass distribution of GW-detected binary black holes shows a ladder of peaks doubling in mass, with a new intermediate peak at 19 solar masses confirming a prior prediction from the hierarchical merger model.
Reduces elliptic triple outcome model to one free parameter, matches N-body simulations except at low angular momentum, and finds observably eccentric merger fractions of 2.6-4.4% in 10^5-10^7 solar mass clusters.
Simulations of dynamical channels predict ~36 eccentric stellar-mass BBHs detectable by LISA in the Milky Way at SNR>1 over 10 years, a local merger rate of ~9 Gpc^{-3} yr^{-1}, and hundreds of faint extragalactic mHz sources.
Simulations of wave-optics lensing of GW150914-like signals by globular clusters recover injected velocity dispersion values for favorable alignments when lens and source parameters are jointly estimated.
Forecasts show SKA-Mid cross-correlations with ET/CE gravitational wave events can constrain GW source bias and time-delay distributions.
citing papers explorer
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Predicting intermediate-mass black hole formation in star clusters with machine learning
Machine learning regressors trained on Rapster simulations forecast that globular clusters rarely host black holes above 100 solar masses while a few nuclear star clusters may exceed this threshold.
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Constraining Dipole Radiation with Multiband Gravitational Waves from Eccentric Binary Black Holes
Multiband observations of eccentric binary black holes can constrain dipole-radiation deviations from general relativity to |b| ≲ 10^{-7} for a GW231123-like event when combining one year of space-based data with ground-informed priors.
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Implications of the LISA stochastic signal from eccentric stellar mass black hole binaries in vacuum
High initial eccentricities in stellar-mass black hole binaries produce a stochastic gravitational wave background distinguishable by LISA from quasi-circular models, enabling upper bounds on eccentricity and separation of environmental effects for dense gas.
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Posterior Predictive Checks for Gravitational-wave Populations: Limitations and Improvements
Maximum-likelihood-based posterior predictive checks detect model misspecification better than event-level versions for uncertain spin tilts, but current detector sensitivity limits their power; the Gaussian Component Spins model underpredicts high spin magnitudes and overpredicts anti-aligned tilts
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Finite Coherence in Gravitational Waves from Tidally Excited Axion Clouds
Finite coherence during tidal Bohr crossings in axion clouds produces distinct, localized gravitational-wave waveforms and orbital responses in black-hole binaries.
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Dynamics of Relativistic Binaries in Structured and Stochastic Environments: A Lagrange-Fourier-Hansen Framework
A new framework projects perturbations onto resonant frequencies via Hansen coefficients to produce efficient coupled ODEs for orbital elements in GW-driven relativistic binaries, demonstrated on tidal fields and accretion disks.
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The Chirp-Mass Ladder: A New Rung Emerges
The chirp-mass distribution of GW-detected binary black holes shows a ladder of peaks doubling in mass, with a new intermediate peak at 19 solar masses confirming a prior prediction from the hierarchical merger model.
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Intermediate States in Chaotic Triple Evolution and Applications to Black Hole Merger Statistics
Reduces elliptic triple outcome model to one free parameter, matches N-body simulations except at low angular momentum, and finds observably eccentric merger fractions of 2.6-4.4% in 10^5-10^7 solar mass clusters.
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Eccentric Stellar-mass Binary Black Holes: Population, Detectability, and Waveform Analysis in the LISA and LIGO Era
Simulations of dynamical channels predict ~36 eccentric stellar-mass BBHs detectable by LISA in the Milky Way at SNR>1 over 10 years, a local merger rate of ~9 Gpc^{-3} yr^{-1}, and hundreds of faint extragalactic mHz sources.
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Probing globular clusters parameters through gravitational wave lensing with stellar-mass black hole binaries
Simulations of wave-optics lensing of GW150914-like signals by globular clusters recover injected velocity dispersion values for favorable alignments when lens and source parameters are jointly estimated.
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Using SKAO to Understand the Clustering of Gravitational Wave Sources
Forecasts show SKA-Mid cross-correlations with ET/CE gravitational wave events can constrain GW source bias and time-delay distributions.