Related papers: Maximum Black Hole mass across Cosmic Time
The gravitational-wave signal GW190521 is consistent with a binary black hole merger source at redshift 0.8 with unusually high component masses, $85^{+21}_{-14}\,M_{\odot}$ and $66^{+17}_{-18}\,M_{\odot}$, compared to previously reported…
Black holes have been found over a wide range of masses, from stellar remnants with masses of 5-150 solar masses (Msun), to those found at the centers of galaxies with $M>10^5$ Msun. However, only a few debated candidate black holes exist…
The largest observed supermassive black holes (SMBHs) have a mass of M_BH ~ 10^{10} M_sun, nearly independent of redshift, from the local (z~0) to the early (z>6) Universe. We suggest that the growth of SMBHs above a few 10^{10} M_sun is…
The runaway merger scenario is one of the most promising mechanisms to explain the formation of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in young dense star clusters (SCs). On the other hand, the massive stars that participate in the runaway…
Growing theoretical evidence suggests that the first generation of stars may have been quite massive (~100-300 solar masses). If they retain their high mass until death, such stars will, after about 3Myr, make pair-instability supernovae.…
Stellar evolution theory predicts a "gap" in the black hole birth function caused by the pair instability. Presupernova stars that have a core mass below some limiting value, Mlo, after all pulsational activity is finished, collapse to…
We model the observed black hole mass function under the assumption that black hole formation is controlled by the compactness of the stellar core at the time of collapse. Low compactness stars are more likely to explode as supernovae and…
Standard stellar evolution models predict that black holes in the range of approximately $50 - 140 M_\odot$ should not exist directly from stellar evolution. This gap appears because stars with masses between 100 and 240 $M_\odot$ are…
Supermassive primordial stars are expected to form in a small fraction of massive protogalaxies in the early universe, and are generally conceived of as the progenitors of the seeds of supermassive black holes (BHs). Supermassive stars with…
The existence of supermassive black holes is supported by a growing body of observations. Supermassive black holes and their formation events are likely candidates for detection by proposed long-wavelength, space-based gravitational wave…
Given a galaxy's stellar mass, its host halo mass has a lower limit from the cosmic baryon fraction and known baryonic physics. At z>4, galaxy stellar mass functions place lower limits on halo number densities that approach expected…
We demonstrate the power of the black hole mass gap as a novel probe of fundamental physics. New light particles that couple to the Standard Model can act as an additional source of energy loss in the cores of population-III stars,…
The existence of black holes (BHs) of mass ~ 10^{9} M_sun at z > 6 is a big puzzle in astrophysics because even optimistic estimates of the accretion time are insufficient for stellar mass BHs of ~ 10 M_sun to grow into such supermassive…
While large numbers of supermassive black holes have been detected at z>6, their origin is still essentially unclear. Numerical simulations have shown that the conditions for the classical direct collapse scenario are very restrictive and…
LIGO/Virgo Collaboration reported the detection of the most massive black hole - black hole (BH-BH) merger up to date with component masses of 85 Msun and 66 Msun (GW190521). Motivated by recent observations of massive stars in the 30…
We introduce a novel black hole mass function which realistically models the physics of star formation and pair instability supernova with a minimal number of parameters. Applying this to all events in the LIGO-Virgo GWTC-2 catalog, we…
If binaries consisting of two 100 Msun black holes exist they would serve as extraordinarily powerful gravitational-wave sources, detectable to redshifts of z=2 with the advanced LIGO/Virgo ground-based detectors. Large uncertainties about…
We study the statistics and cosmic evolution of massive black hole seeds formed during major mergers of gas-rich late-type galaxies. Generalizing the results of the hydro-simulations from Mayer et al. 2010, we envision a scenario in which a…
It is firmly established that the stellar mass distribution is smooth, covering the range 0.1-100 Msun. It is to be expected that the masses of the ensuing compact remnants correlate with the masses of their progenitor stars, and thus it is…
Evolution of first population of massive metal-free binary stars is followed. Due to the low metallicity, the stars are allowed to form with large initial masses and to evolve without significant mass loss. Evolution at zero metallicity,…