On June 20, 2020, the LIGO-Virgo collaboration announced the discovery of GW190814, a gravitational wave event originating from a binary system merger between a black hole of mass M1=23.2−1.0+1.1M⊙ and an unidentified object with a mass of M2=2.59−0.09+0.08M⊙. This second object would be either the heaviest neutron star or lightest black hole observed to date. Here we investigate the possibility of the ∼2.6M⊙ object being a primordial black hole (PBH). We find that a primordial black hole explanation to GW190814 is unlikely as it is limited by the formation rate of the primary stellar progenitor and the observed merger rates of O(20)M⊙ massive black hole pairs.
@article{arxiv.2006.15675,
title = {Could the 2.6 $M_\odot$ object in GW190814 be a primordial black hole?},
author = {Kyriakos Vattis and Isabelle S. Goldstein and Savvas M. Koushiappas},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2006.15675},
year = {2022}
}
Comments
Replaced with version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D