{
  "id": "1904.02821",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2019-04-04T23:15:15.000Z",
  "updated": "2019-04-04T23:15:15.000Z",
  "title": "The impact of pair-instability mass loss on the binary black hole mass distribution",
  "authors": [
    "Simon Stevenson",
    "Matthew Sampson",
    "Jade Powell",
    "Alejandro Vigna-Gómez",
    "Coenraad J. Neijssel",
    "Dorottya Szécsi",
    "Ilya Mandel"
  ],
  "comment": "14 pages, 8 figures, submitted to ApJ",
  "categories": [
    "astro-ph.HE",
    "gr-qc"
  ],
  "abstract": "A population of binary black hole mergers has now been observed in gravitational waves by Advanced LIGO and Virgo. The masses of these black holes appear to show evidence for a pile-up between $30$--$45$\\,\\Msol{} and a cut-off above $\\sim 45$\\,\\Msol. One possible explanation for such a pile-up and subsequent cut-off are pulsational pair-instability supernovae (PPISNe) and pair-instability supernovae (PISNe) in massive stars. We investigate the plausibility of this explanation in the context of isolated massive binaries. We study a population of massive binaries using the rapid population synthesis software COMPAS, incorporating models for PPISNe and PISNe. Our models predict a maximum black hole mass of $40$\\,\\Msol{}. We expect $\\sim 0.5$--$4$\\% of all binary black hole mergers at redshift z = 0 will include at least one component that went through a PPISN (with mass $30$--$40$\\,\\Msol{}), constituting $\\sim 5$--$25$\\% of binary black hole mergers observed during the first two observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Virgo. Empirical models based on fitting the gravitational-wave mass measurements to a combination of a power law and a Gaussian find a fraction too large to be associated with PPISNe in our models. The rates of PPISNe and PISNe track the low metallicity star formation rate, increasing out to redshift $z = 2$. These predictions may be tested both with future gravitational-wave observations and with observations of superluminous supernovae.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2019-04-04T23:15:15.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "binary black hole mass distribution",
      "pair-instability mass loss",
      "binary black hole mergers",
      "population synthesis software compas",
      "metallicity star formation rate"
    ],
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 14,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable"
    }
  }
}