# Most Black Holes are Born Very Slowly Rotating

## TL;DR

This paper models angular momentum transport in massive stars, predicting that most black holes are born with very slow rotation, which aligns with LIGO's observations of low black hole spins.

## Contribution

It introduces an updated angular momentum transport model based on the magnetic Tayler instability, explaining low black hole spins across various stellar evolution scenarios.

## Key findings

- Black holes from single stars typically have very low spins (~0.01).
- Binary evolution can produce moderate or high black hole spins under certain conditions.
- Predictions for future LIGO events' effective spins are provided.

## Abstract

The age of gravitational wave (GW) astronomy has begun, and black hole (BH) mergers detected by LIGO are providing novel constraints on massive star evolution. A major uncertainty in stellar theory is the angular momentum (AM) transport within the star that determines its core rotation rate and the resulting BH's spin. Internal rotation rates of low-mass stars measured from asteroseismology prove that AM transport is efficient, suggesting that massive stellar cores may rotate slower than prior expectations. We investigate AM transport via the magnetic Tayler instability, which can largely explain the rotation rates of low-mass stars and white dwarfs. Implementing an updated AM transport prescription into models of high-mass stars, we compute the spins of their BH remnants. We predict that BHs born from single stars rotate very slowly, with $a \sim 10^{-2}$, regardless of initial rotation rate, possibly explaining the low $\chi_{\rm eff}$ of most BH binaries detected by LIGO thus far. A limited set of binary models suggests slow rotation for many binary scenarios as well, although homogeneous evolution and tidal spin-up of post-common envelope helium stars can create moderate or high BH spins. We make predictions for the values of $\chi_{\rm eff}$ in future LIGO events, and we discuss implications for engine-powered transients.