One Channel to Rule Them All? Constraining the Origins of Binary Black Holes using Multiple Formation Pathways

TL;DR

This paper analyzes gravitational wave data from binary black holes using multiple formation models, revealing that a mixture of channels best explains the observations and emphasizing the importance of considering multiple formation pathways.

Contribution

It introduces a methodology to constrain the origins of binary black holes by comparing multiple formation models and inferring their contributions from gravitational wave data.

Findings

Multiple formation channels are needed to explain the observed binary black hole population.

No single formation channel dominates more than approximately 70% of detections.

The data favor low natal spins and moderately efficient common envelope processes.

Abstract

The second LIGO-Virgo catalog of gravitational wave transients has more than quadrupled the observational sample of binary black holes. We analyze this catalog using a suite of five state-of-the-art binary black hole population models covering a range of isolated and dynamical formation channels and infer branching fractions between channels as well as constraints on uncertain physical processes that impact the observational properties of mergers. Given our set of formation models, we find significant differences between the branching fractions of the underlying and detectable populations, and that the diversity of detections suggests that multiple formation channels are at play. A mixture of channels is strongly preferred over any single channel dominating the detected population: an individual channel does not contribute to more than $\simeq 70\%$ of the observational sample of binary black holes. We calculate the preference between the natal spin assumptions and common envelope efficiencies in our models, favoring natal spins of isolated black holes of $\lesssim 0.1$, and marginally preferring common envelope efficiencies of $\gtrsim 2.0$ while strongly disfavoring highly inefficient common envelopes. We show that it is essential to consider multiple channels when interpreting gravitational wave catalogs, as inference on branching fractions and physical prescriptions becomes biased when contributing formation scenarios are not considered or incorrect physical prescriptions are assumed. Although our quantitative results can be affected by uncertain assumptions in model predictions, our methodology is capable of including models with updated theoretical considerations and additional formation channels.