Breaching the limit: formation of GW190521-like and IMBH mergers in young massive clusters

TL;DR

This study uses N-body simulations of young massive clusters to explore the formation of GW190521-like black hole mergers and intermediate-mass black hole mergers, revealing their detectability and implications for black hole spin and cluster environments.

Contribution

It demonstrates that GW190521-like systems and IMBH mergers can form through hierarchical mergers in young massive clusters, providing insights into their detection and astrophysical origins.

Findings

GW190521-like systems can form via third-generation mergers.

IMBH-BH mergers are detectable by LISA and DECIGO at low redshifts.

Retention of merger products requires high escape velocities in host clusters.

Abstract

The LIGO-Virgo-Kagra collaboration (LVC) discovered recently GW190521, a gravitational wave (GW) source associated with the merger between two black holes (BHs) with mass $66$ M$_\odot$ and $>85$ M$_\odot$. GW190521 represents the first BH binary (BBH) merger with a primary mass falling in the "upper mass-gap" and the first leaving behind a $\sim 150$ M$_\odot$ remnant. So far, the LVC reported the discovery of four further mergers having a total mass $>100$ M$_\odot$, i.e. in the intermediate-mass black holes (IMBH) mass range. Here, we discuss results from a series of 80 $N$-body simulations of young massive clusters (YMCs) that implement relativistic corrections to follow compact object mergers. We discover the development of a GW190521-like system as the result of a 3rd-generation merger, and four IMBH-BH mergers with total mass $~(300-350)$ M$_\odot$. We show that these IMBH-BH mergers are low-frequency GW sources detectable with LISA and DECIGO out to redshift $z=0.01-0.1$ and $z>100$, and we discuss how their detection could help unravelling IMBH natal spins. For the GW190521 test case, we show that the 3rd-generation merger remnant has a spin and effective spin parameter that matches the $90\%$ credible interval measured for GW190521 better than a simpler double merger and comparably to a single merger. Due to GW recoil kicks, we show that retaining the products of these mergers require birth-sites with escape velocities $\gtrsim 50-100$ km s$^{-1}$, values typically attained in galactic nuclei and massive clusters with steep density profiles.