When are LIGO/Virgo's big black hole mergers?

M Fishbach, Z Doctor, T Callister… - The Astrophysical …, 2021 - iopscience.iop.org
The Astrophysical Journal, 2021iopscience.iop.org
We study the evolution of the binary black hole (BBH) mass distribution across cosmic time.
The second gravitational-wave transient catalog (GWTC-2) from LIGO/Virgo contains BBH
events out to redshifts z∼ 1, with component masses in the range∼ 5–80 M⊙. In this
catalog, the biggest BBHs, with m 1≳ 45 M⊙, are only found at the highest redshifts, z≳ 0.4.
We ask whether the absence of high-mass observations at low redshift indicates that the
mass distribution evolves: the biggest BBHs only merge at high redshift, and cease merging …
Abstract
We study the evolution of the binary black hole (BBH) mass distribution across cosmic time. The second gravitational-wave transient catalog (GWTC-2) from LIGO/Virgo contains BBH events out to redshifts z∼ 1, with component masses in the range∼ 5–80 M⊙. In this catalog, the biggest BBHs, with m 1≳ 45 M⊙, are only found at the highest redshifts, z≳ 0.4. We ask whether the absence of high-mass observations at low redshift indicates that the mass distribution evolves: the biggest BBHs only merge at high redshift, and cease merging at low redshift. Modeling the BBH primary-mass spectrum as a power law with a sharp maximum mass cutoff (Truncated model), we find that the cutoff increases with redshift (> 99.9% credibility). An abrupt cutoff in the mass spectrum is expected from (pulsational) pair-instability supernova simulations; however, GWTC-2 is only consistent with a Truncated mass model if the location of the cutoff increases from
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