Search for Black Hole Merger Families. (arXiv:2011.06591v1 [astro-ph.HE])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Veske_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">Doğa Veske</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Sullivan_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Andrew G. Sullivan</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Marka_Z/0/1/0/all/0/1">Zsuzsa Márka</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bartos_I/0/1/0/all/0/1">Imre Bartos</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Corley_K/0/1/0/all/0/1">K. Rainer Corley</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Samsing_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Johan Samsing</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Buscicchio_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Riccardo Buscicchio</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Marka_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Szabolcs Márka</a>
The origin, environment, and evolution of stellar-mass black hole binaries
are still a mystery. One of the proposed binary formation mechanisms is
manifest in dynamical interactions between multiple black holes. A resulting
framework of these dynamical interactions is the so-called hierarchical triple
merger scenario, which happens when three black holes become gravitationally
bound, causing two successive black hole mergers to occur. In such successive
mergers, the black holes involved are directly related to each other, and hence
this channel can be directly tested from the properties of the detected binary
black hole mergers. Here we present a search for hierarchical triple mergers
among events within the GWTC-1 and GWTC-2 catalogs of LIGO/Virgo and those
found by the IAS-Princeton group. The search includes improved statistical
quantification that also accounts for black hole spins. We perform our analysis
for different upper bounds on the mass distribution of first generation BHs.
Our results demonstrate the importance of the mass distributions’ properties
for constraining the hierarchical merger scenario. We present the individually
significant merger pairs. The search yields interesting candidate families and
hints of future impact of the search.
The origin, environment, and evolution of stellar-mass black hole binaries
are still a mystery. One of the proposed binary formation mechanisms is
manifest in dynamical interactions between multiple black holes. A resulting
framework of these dynamical interactions is the so-called hierarchical triple
merger scenario, which happens when three black holes become gravitationally
bound, causing two successive black hole mergers to occur. In such successive
mergers, the black holes involved are directly related to each other, and hence
this channel can be directly tested from the properties of the detected binary
black hole mergers. Here we present a search for hierarchical triple mergers
among events within the GWTC-1 and GWTC-2 catalogs of LIGO/Virgo and those
found by the IAS-Princeton group. The search includes improved statistical
quantification that also accounts for black hole spins. We perform our analysis
for different upper bounds on the mass distribution of first generation BHs.
Our results demonstrate the importance of the mass distributions’ properties
for constraining the hierarchical merger scenario. We present the individually
significant merger pairs. The search yields interesting candidate families and
hints of future impact of the search.
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