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=0.0 to 0.8 in steps of 0.1, 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 (v≥0.6c) in this parameter regime and demonstrate a clear spin dependence, with fast-ejecta masses reaching up to \qty∼e−3\Mass\Sun for aBH=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 \qty∼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.
@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