Wolf-Rayet stars, black holes and the first detected gravitational wave source

TL;DR

This paper uses population synthesis modeling to explore the evolution of massive binary stars leading to black hole mergers, providing insights into the progenitors of the first gravitational wave detection GW150914.

Contribution

It demonstrates the plausibility of current evolutionary scenarios for massive binary stars producing black hole mergers consistent with GW150914.

Findings

Initial primary mass range: 100-140 solar masses

Initial separation range: 50-350 solar radii

Supports modern binary evolution models

Abstract

The recently discovered burst of gravitational waves GW150914 provides a good new chance to verify the current view on the evolution of close binary stars. Modern population synthesis codes help to study this evolution from two main sequence stars up to the formation of two final remnant degenerate dwarfs, neutron stars or black holes [Massevich 1988]. To study the evolution of the GW150914 predecessor we use the "Scenario Machine" code presented by [Lipunov 1996]. The scenario modelling conducted in this study allowed to describe the evolution of systems for which the final stage is a massive BH+BH merger. We find that the initial mass of the primary component can be $100\div 140 M_{\odot}$ and the initial separation of the components can be $50\div 350 R_{\odot}$. Our calculations show the plausibility of modern evolutionary scenarios for binary stars and the population synthesis modelling based on it.