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High mass but low spin: an exclusion region to rule out hierarchical black-hole mergers as a mechanism to populate the pair-instability mass gap

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arxiv 2104.11247 v2 pith:P6JTFB43 submitted 2021-04-22 astro-ph.HE gr-qc

classification astro-ph.HEgr-qc
keywords massmergersblack-holehierarchicalgravitational-wavepair-instabilityblackexclusion
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal
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abstract

The occurrence of pair-instability supernovae is predicted to prevent the formation of black holes with masses $\gtrsim 50 M_\odot$. Recent gravitational-wave detections in this mass range require an explanation beyond that of standard stellar collapse. Current modeling strategies include the hierarchical assembly of previous generations of black-hole mergers as well as other mechanisms of astrophysical nature (lowered nuclear-reaction rates, envelope retention, stellar mergers, accretion, dredge-up episodes). In this paper, we point out the occurrence of an exclusion region that cannot be easily populated by hierarchical black-hole mergers. A future gravitational-wave detection of a black hole with mass $\gtrsim 50M_\odot$ and spin $\lesssim 0.2$ will indicate that the pair-instability mass gap is polluted in some other way. Such a putative outlier can be explained using hierarchical mergers only with considerable fine-tuning of both mass ratio and spins of the preceding black-hole merger -- an assumption that can then be cross-checked against the bulk of the gravitational-wave catalog.

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Cited by 4 Pith papers

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

  1. Unified remnant models for aligned-spin, precessing, and eccentric binary black hole mergers

    gr-qc 2026-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    New analytic fits, gwModelRemS/P, predict remnant mass, spin, luminosity, and kick for black hole mergers from equal mass to q=1000, with a neural-flow model for precessing kicks.

  2. High-mass binary black hole mergers from detailed binary evolution models

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

    Fully-conservative BH accretion is disfavored for high-mass BBH mergers; Eddington/GRRMHD accretion with kicks can match part of the LVK high-mass population but still needs another channel.

  3. Accurate models for recoil velocity distribution in black hole mergers with comparable to extreme mass-ratios and their astrophysical implications

    gr-qc 2025-11 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    New analytic, GPR, and normalizing-flow kick models for black-hole mergers trained from q=1 to q≈200, with cluster-retention consequences.

  4. Improving gravitational wave search sensitivity with TIER: Trigger Inference using Extended strain Representation

    gr-qc 2025-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    A machine learning classifier trained on the extended noise environment around gravitational wave candidates improves search sensitivity for heavy, unequal-mass black hole mergers by up to roughly 20 percent.

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