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Hierarchical binary black hole mergers in globular clusters: mass function and evolution with redshift

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arxiv 2401.14837 v2 pith:O2K5VKUP submitted 2024-01-26 astro-ph.HE astro-ph.GA

Hierarchical binary black hole mergers in globular clusters: mass function and evolution with redshift

classification astro-ph.HE astro-ph.GA
keywords masshierarchicalmergersprimarydistributionevolutionpairingbbhs
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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Hierarchical black hole (BH) mergers are one of the most straightforward mechanisms to produce BHs inside and above the pair-instability mass gap. Here, we investigate the impact of globular cluster (GC) evolution on hierarchical mergers, and we account for the uncertainties related to BH mass pairing functions on the predicted primary BH mass, mass ratio and spin distribution. We find that the evolution of the host GC quenches the hierarchical BH assembly already at the third generation, mainly due to cluster expansion powered by a central BH sub-system. Hierarchical mergers match the primary BH mass distribution from GW events for $m_1 > 50 \, \mathrm{M_{\odot}}$, regardless of the assumed BH pairing function. At lower masses, however, different pairing functions lead to dramatically different predictions on the primary BH mass merger rate density. We find that the primary BH mass distribution evolves with redshift, with a larger contribution from mergers with $m_1 \geq 30 \, \mathrm{M_{\odot}}$ for $z\geq{}2$. Finally, we calculate the mixing fraction of BBHs from GCs and isolated binary systems. Our predictions are very sensitive to the spins, which favor a large fraction ($>0.6$) of BBHs born in GCs, in order to reproduce misaligned spin observations.

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Cited by 8 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

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    astro-ph.HE 2026-07 conditional novelty 7.0

    A GPU-accelerated binned Gaussian process yields the first model-agnostic 4D BBH population in (m1, q, χeff, χp), revealing four mass-based subpopulations and new spin-mass-ratio correlations.

  2. Assessing the Impact of Instrumental Requirements on the Scientific Performance of the Einstein Telescope

    astro-ph.IM 2026-07 accept novelty 6.0

    Degrading the Einstein Telescope's sensitivity in specific frequency bands hurts different science goals in predictable ways, but the mission remains scientifically strong even in the worst modelled cases.

  3. Signatures of a subpopulation of hierarchical mergers in the GWTC-4 gravitational-wave dataset

    gr-qc 2026-01 conditional novelty 6.0

    Using a joint effective-spin and precession-spin model on 155 gravitational-wave events, the authors infer that the hierarchical (second-generation) merger fraction rises sharply above ~46 M_sun and peaks again near 1...

  4. Signatures of a subpopulation of hierarchical mergers in the GWTC-4 gravitational-wave dataset

    gr-qc 2026-01 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    GWTC-4 data show a transition to nearly all hierarchical mergers above 46 solar masses, with the hierarchical rate peaking at 15.7 solar masses, indicating mass-dependent substructure in black hole spins.

  5. Biased parameter inference of eccentric, spin-precessing binary black holes

    gr-qc 2025-10 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    Eccentric BBH signals recovered with quasi-circular precessing models show biases in chirp mass and χ_p; Bayes factors favor eccentric aligned-spin models when both eccentricity and precession are present.

  6. Mass Distribution of Binary Black Hole Mergers from Young and Old Dense Star Clusters

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    astro-ph.HE 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 4.0

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  8. Considering lensing effect on gravitational wave signals from black holes in mass gap

    astro-ph.HE 2025-12 reject novelty 4.0

    Gravitational lensing could in principle explain apparent mass-gap black-hole mergers, but the required magnifications are μ≈12–39 for GW190521 and μ≈320–444 for GW231123 depending on assumptions—and the paper's abstr...