Related papers: Reexamining Evidence of a Pair-Instability Mass Ga…

Stellar theory predicts a forbidden range of black-hole masses between ${\sim}50$--$130\,M_\odot$ due to pair-instability supernovae, but evidence for such a gap in the mass distribution from gravitational-wave astronomy has proved elusive.…

Understanding the astrophysical origins of binary black holes requires accurate and flexible modeling of multi-dimensional population properties. In this paper, using a data-driven framework based on binned Gaussian processes, we…

Pair-instability should prevent the direct formation of black holes above about $50M_\odot$ creating a pair-instability mass gap. Yet gravitational-wave observations have detected black holes in this mass range. These systems can be…

We analyze binary black hole (BBH) mergers from the latest Gravitational Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC-3) using a flexible, non-parametric framework to infer the underlying black hole mass distribution. Our model employs Gaussian Processes…

Pair-instability supernovae leave behind no compact remnants, resulting in a predicted gap in the distribution of stellar black-hole masses. Gravitational waves from binary black-hole mergers probe the relevant mass range and analyses of…

While the origin of merging black-hole binaries observed in gravitational waves remain uncertain, different formation channels are expected to leave distinct imprints on their observed mass and spin distributions. In this work, we focus on…

Stellar evolution models predict the existence of a gap in the black hole mass spectrum from $\sim55 M_\odot - 120 M_\odot$ due to pair-instability supernovae (PISNe). We investigate the possible existence of such an "upper" mass gap in the…

The recent O4a release from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration, which significantly increased the number of gravitational-wave (GW) detections, reveals features with potentially important astrophysical implications. One notable example is a…

Repeated black-hole mergers in dense stellar clusters are a plausible mechanism to populate the predicted gap in black hole masses due to the pair-instability supernova process. These hierarchical mergers carry distinct spin characteristics…

With the release of the fourth LIGO--Virgo--KAGRA gravitational-wave catalog (GWTC-4), we are starting to gain a detailed view of the population of merging binary black holes. The formation channels of these black holes is not clearly…

Pair-instability supernovae (PISN) will not leave compact remnants and hence yield a mass gap of the black holes. Though a transition point at $\approx 46M_\odot$, separating low- and high-spin black hole populations and interpreted as…

Astrophysically motivated population models for binary black hole observables are often insufficient to capture the imprints of multiple formation channels. This is mainly due to the strongly parametrized nature of such investigations.…

We analyze the LIGO/Virgo GWTC-2 catalog to study the primary mass distribution of the merging black holes. We perform hierarchical Bayesian analysis, and examine whether the mass distribution has a sharp cutoff for primary black hole…

Models for black hole (BH) formation from stellar evolution robustly predict the existence of a pair-instability supernova (PISN) mass gap in the range $\sim50$ to $\sim120$ solar masses. This theoretical prediction is supported by the…

Attempts to understand the formation of binary black hole (BBH) systems detected via gravitational wave (GW) emission are affected by many unknowns and uncertainties, from both the observational and theoretical (astrophysical modelling)…

We introduce the first complete non-parametric model for the astrophysical distribution of the binary black hole (BBH) population. Constructed from basis splines, we use these models to conduct the most comprehensive data-driven…

We report on the population of the 47 compact binary mergers detected with a false-alarm rate 1/yr in the second LIGO--Virgo Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog, GWTC-2. We observe several characteristics of the merging binary black hole…

The mass distribution of merging binary black holes is generically predicted to evolve with redshift, reflecting systematic changes in their astrophysical environment, stellar progenitors, and/or dominant formation channels over cosmic…

Gravitational-wave detections are now probing the black hole (BH) mass distribution, including the predicted pair-instability mass gap. These data require robust quantitative predictions, which are challenging to obtain. The most massive BH…

We use hierarchical Bayesian inference with non-parametric Gaussian process models to investigate the effective inspiral spin parameter, $\chi_{\rm eff}$, as a function of primary black hole mass in the third gravitational-wave transient…