Understanding the high-mass binary black hole population from stable mass transfer and super-Eddington accretion in BPASS

TL;DR

This paper proposes that stable mass transfer with super-Eddington accretion explains the extended high-mass tail and excess in black hole mass distributions observed by LVK, challenging previous models based on pulsation-pair instability.

Contribution

It demonstrates that detailed binary evolution models can account for high-mass black hole features through stable mass transfer, contrasting with prior population synthesis results.

Findings

Stable mass transfer with super-Eddington accretion explains the high-mass tail.

Excess black hole masses are due to stable mass transfer, not pulsation-pair instability.

Models align with recent detailed binary evolution studies.

Abstract

With the remarkable success of the LVK consortium in detecting binary black hole mergers, it has become possible to use the population properties to constrain our understanding of the progenitor stars' evolution. The most striking features of the observed primary black hole mass distributions are the extended tail up to 100M$_\odot$ and an excess of masses at 35M$_\odot$. Currently, isolated binary population synthesis have difficulty explaining these features. Using the well-tested BPASS detailed stellar binary evolution models to determine mass transfer stability, accretion rates, and remnant masses, we postulate that stable mass transfer with super-Eddington accretion is responsible for the extended tail. Furthermore, that the excess is not due to pulsation-pair instability, as previously thought, but due to stable mass transfer. These systems are able to merge within the Hubble time due to more stable mass transfer with extreme mass ratios that allows the orbits to shrink sufficiently to allow for a merger. These finding are at odds with those from other population synthesis codes but in agreement with other recent studies using detailed binary evolution models.