English

Impact of black hole spin on low-mass black hole-neutron star mergers

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2026-04-22 v2 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

The recent detection of GW230529 suggests that black hole-neutron star mergers may involve low-mass black holes, potentially producing detectable electromagnetic counterparts. Motivated by this, we perform eleven fully general-relativistic hydrodynamic simulations with and without neutrino treatment, targeting the inferred chirp mass of GW230529. We systematically vary the black hole spin from aBH=0.0a_{\mathrm{BH}} = 0.0 to 0.80.8 in steps of 0.10.1, making this the most comprehensive study of spin effects in black hole-neutron star mergers to date. We confirm our earlier findings of fast-moving ejecta (v0.6cv \geq 0.6\,c) in this parameter regime and demonstrate a clear spin dependence, with fast-ejecta masses reaching up to \qtye3\Mass\Sun\qty{\sim e-3}{\Mass\Sun} for aBH=0.8a_{\mathrm{BH}} = 0.8. Most notably, we identify for the first time the presence of spiral wave-driven ejecta in black hole-neutron star mergers -- a phenomenon previously reported only in binary neutron star systems. The mass of this component grows significantly with spin, reaching levels up to \qty7e3\Mass\Sun\qty{\sim 7e-3}{\Mass\Sun}. These results establish a new spin-enhanced mechanism for powering blue kilonova emission in black hole-neutron star mergers, significantly extending the range of systems expected to produce observable electromagnetic counterparts.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2508.06341,
  title  = {Impact of black hole spin on low-mass black hole-neutron star mergers},
  author = {Rahime Matur and Ian Hawke and Nils Andersson},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.06341},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

15 pages, 10 figures, 2 table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS