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Black Hole Coagulation: Modeling Hierarchical Mergers in Black Hole Populations

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arxiv 1911.04424 v2 pith:R5ZEOHRI submitted 2019-11-11 astro-ph.HE astro-ph.CO

classification astro-ph.HEastro-ph.CO
keywords blackholesmergershierarchicalholepopulationenvironmentsinputs
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Data from the LIGO and Virgo detectors has confirmed that stellar-mass black holes can merge within a Hubble time, leaving behind massive remnant black holes. In some astrophysical environments such as globular clusters and AGN disks, it may be possible for these remnants to take part in further compact-object mergers, producing a population of hierarchically formed black holes. In this work, we present a parameterized framework for describing the population of binary black hole mergers, while self-consistently accounting for hierarchical mergers. The framework casts black holes as particles in a box which can collide based on an effective cross-section, but allows inputs from more detailed astrophysical simulations. Our approach is relevant to any population which is comprised of second or higher generation black holes, such as primordial black holes or dense cluster environments. We describe some possible inputs to this generic model and their effects on the black hole merger populations, and use the model to perform Bayesian inference on the catalog of black holes from LIGO and Virgo's first two observing runs. We find that models with a high rate of hierarchical mergers are disfavored, consistent with previous population analyses. Future gravitational-wave events will further constrain the inputs to this generic hierarchical merger model, enabling a deeper look into the formation environments of binary black holes.

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Forward citations

Cited by 8 Pith papers

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

  1. Assessing the waveform systematics from parameter estimation to population inference with eccentricity

    astro-ph.HE 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Eccentric waveform-model differences, small per event, accumulate across the GWTC-4 catalog and alter inferred redshift evolution and effective-spin population distributions.

  2. Uncovering Hierarchical Sub-Population of Binary Black Holes

    astro-ph.HE 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    A flexible six-component fit to 259 LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA black-hole mergers finds a roughly geometric sequence of mass peaks but no aligned-spin signal except in the lowest-mass component.

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

    gr-qc 2026-01 unverdicted novelty 6.0 of 10

    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. Evidence for Three Subpopulations of Merging Binary Black Holes at Different Primary Masses

    astro-ph.HE 2025-09 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    GWTC-4 data supports three subpopulations of merging black holes with transition masses at about 28 and 40 solar masses, differing in mass ratio and spin.

  5. Modeling Gravitational Wave Bias from 3D Power Spectra of Spectroscopic Surveys

    astro-ph.GA 2025-06 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Using mock gravitational wave catalogs built from the SDSS DR7 galaxy survey, the clustering bias of GW sources is most sensitive to host stellar mass, secondarily to star formation rate, and nearly insensitive to met...

  6. The Gravitational Wave Bias Parameter from Angular Power Spectra: Bridging Between Galaxies and Binary Black Holes

    astro-ph.GA 2024-11 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    The gravitational wave bias of mock binary black holes increases with the pivot mass of the assumed host galaxy mass selection, and can exceed the galaxy bias by up to about 30 percent only for steep host probability slopes.

  7. A Possible Triple Formation Scenario of Binary Black Hole Merge With One In Pair-instability Supernova Mass Gap

    astro-ph.HE 2026-07 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    An isolated hierarchical triple channel with chemically homogeneous evolution and triple common envelope can produce PISN mass-gap BBH mergers matching GW190706 at ~22% of the observed rate.

  8. The first decade of gravitational-wave measurements of black hole spins

    gr-qc 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 1.0 of 10

    A review summarizing formation-channel predictions, waveform effects, and population-level constraints on stellar-mass black hole spins from the first decade of gravitational-wave observations.

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