The Hierarchical Merger Scenario for GW231123

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Li, Guo-Peng, Fan, Xi-Long
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Li, Guo-Peng
Fan, Xi-Long
author_facet Li, Guo-Peng
Fan, Xi-Long
contents GW231123 exhibits exceedingly massive components and high spins, which challenges the formation of first-generation (1G) black holes from stellar collapse and implies that this event might originate from hierarchical mergers. Here we show that the \texttt{2G+2G} merger scenario for GW231123 is favored over a \texttt{2G+1G} (or \texttt{3G+2G}) merger, with odds ratios of $>$$\mathcal{O}(10^3)$. The primary (secondary) black hole is consistent with merging binary black holes with masses of $75^{+7}_{-7}\,M_\odot$ and $66^{+4}_{-10}\,M_\odot$ ($64^{+8}_{-10}\,M_\odot$ and $59^{+7}_{-9}\,M_\odot$; 90\% credible intervals), respectively. Our results reveal that the treatment of spin priors from the population level and waveform model choice are decisive in interpreting potential hierarchical gravitational-wave signals.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_08298
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Hierarchical Merger Scenario for GW231123
Li, Guo-Peng
Fan, Xi-Long
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
GW231123 exhibits exceedingly massive components and high spins, which challenges the formation of first-generation (1G) black holes from stellar collapse and implies that this event might originate from hierarchical mergers. Here we show that the \texttt{2G+2G} merger scenario for GW231123 is favored over a \texttt{2G+1G} (or \texttt{3G+2G}) merger, with odds ratios of $>$$\mathcal{O}(10^3)$. The primary (secondary) black hole is consistent with merging binary black holes with masses of $75^{+7}_{-7}\,M_\odot$ and $66^{+4}_{-10}\,M_\odot$ ($64^{+8}_{-10}\,M_\odot$ and $59^{+7}_{-9}\,M_\odot$; 90\% credible intervals), respectively. Our results reveal that the treatment of spin priors from the population level and waveform model choice are decisive in interpreting potential hierarchical gravitational-wave signals.
title The Hierarchical Merger Scenario for GW231123
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.08298