GW190521 May Be an Intermediate-mass Ratio Inspiral

verfasst von: Alexander H. Nitz, Collin D. Capano
Abstract: GW190521 is the first confident observation of a binary black hole merger with total mass M > 100 M⊙. Given the lack of observational constraints at these masses, we analyze GW190521 considering two different priors for the binary's masses: Uniform in mass ratio and source-frame total mass, and uniform in source-frame component masses. For the uniform in mass-ratio prior, we find that the component masses are = - m 168+ M⊙src 61 15 + and = - m 16+ M ⊙ src 3 33 +. The uniform in component-mass prior yields a bimodal posterior distribution. There is a lowmass- ratio mode (q < 4) with = - m 100+ M ⊙src 18 17 + and = - m 57+ M ⊙ src 16 17 + and a high-mass-ratio mode (q ≥4) with = - m 166+ M ⊙src 35 16 + and = - m 16+ M ⊙ src 3 14 +. Although the two modes have nearly equal posterior probability, the maximum-likelihood parameters are in the high-mass-ratio mode, with m1 = 171 M ⊙src + and m2 = 16 M⊙src , and a signal-to-noise ratio of 16. These results are consistent with the proposed "mass gap"produced by pair-instability in supernovae. Our results differ from those published in Abbott et al. We find that a combination of the prior used and the constraints applied may have prevented that analysis from sampling the high-mass-ratio mode. An accretion flare in AGN J124942.3+344929 was observed in possible coincidence with GW190521 by the Zwicky Transient Facility. We report parameters assuming a common origin; however, the spatial agreement of GW190521 and the electromagnetic flare alone does not provide convincing evidence for the association (lnβ ≲ -4).
Organisationseinheit(en): Institut für Gravitationsphysik
Externe Organisation(en): Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut)
Typ: Artikel
Journal: Astrophysical Journal Letters
Band: 907
Anzahl der Seiten: 7
ISSN: 2041-8205
Publikationsdatum: 20.01.2021
Publikationsstatus: Veröffentlicht
Peer-reviewed: Ja
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete: Astronomie und Astrophysik, Astronomie und Planetologie
Elektronische Version(en): https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2010.12558 (Zugang: Offen)
https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/abccc5 (Zugang: Offen)

BibTeX

@article{72f6b633d09e4ca98a1b7015511a87d8,
title = "GW190521 May Be an Intermediate-mass Ratio Inspiral",
abstract = "GW190521 is the first confident observation of a binary black hole merger with total mass M > 100 M⊙. Given the lack of observational constraints at these masses, we analyze GW190521 considering two different priors for the binary's masses: Uniform in mass ratio and source-frame total mass, and uniform in source-frame component masses. For the uniform in mass-ratio prior, we find that the component masses are = - m 168+ M⊙src 61 15 + and = - m 16+ M ⊙ src 3 33 +. The uniform in component-mass prior yields a bimodal posterior distribution. There is a lowmass- ratio mode (q < 4) with = - m 100+ M ⊙src 18 17 + and = - m 57+ M ⊙ src 16 17 + and a high-mass-ratio mode (q ≥4) with = - m 166+ M ⊙src 35 16 + and = - m 16+ M ⊙ src 3 14 +. Although the two modes have nearly equal posterior probability, the maximum-likelihood parameters are in the high-mass-ratio mode, with m1 = 171 M ⊙src + and m2 = 16 M⊙src , and a signal-to-noise ratio of 16. These results are consistent with the proposed {"}mass gap{"}produced by pair-instability in supernovae. Our results differ from those published in Abbott et al. We find that a combination of the prior used and the constraints applied may have prevented that analysis from sampling the high-mass-ratio mode. An accretion flare in AGN J124942.3+344929 was observed in possible coincidence with GW190521 by the Zwicky Transient Facility. We report parameters assuming a common origin; however, the spatial agreement of GW190521 and the electromagnetic flare alone does not provide convincing evidence for the association (lnβ ≲ -4). ",
author = "Nitz, {Alexander H.} and Capano, {Collin D.}",
note = "Funding information: We thank Thomas Dent for his comments along with Frank Ohme and Sebastian Khan for their insight into waveform modeling. We acknowledge the Max Planck Gesellschaft. We thank the computing team from AEI Hannover for their significant technical support with special thanks to Carsten Aulbert and Henning Fehrmann. This research has made use of data from the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center (https:// www.gw-openscience.org), a service of LIGO Laboratory, the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration. LIGO is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. Virgo is funded by the French Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the Italian Istituto Nazionale della Fisica Nucleare (INFN), and the Dutch Nikhef, with contributions by Polish and Hungarian institutes.",
year = "2021",
month = jan,
day = "20",
doi = "10.48550/arXiv.2010.12558",
language = "English",
volume = "907",
journal = "Astrophysical Journal Letters",
issn = "2041-8205",
publisher = "American Astronomical Society",
number = "1",
}