Milky Way Globular Clusters: Nurseries for Dynamically-Formed Binary Black Holes

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Angeloni, Federico, Kritos, Konstantinos, Schneider, Raffaella, Berti, Emanuele, Graziani, Luca, Torniamenti, Stefano, Mapelli, Michela
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866910173595959296
author Angeloni, Federico
Kritos, Konstantinos
Schneider, Raffaella
Berti, Emanuele
Graziani, Luca
Torniamenti, Stefano
Mapelli, Michela
author_facet Angeloni, Federico
Kritos, Konstantinos
Schneider, Raffaella
Berti, Emanuele
Graziani, Luca
Torniamenti, Stefano
Mapelli, Michela
contents We present a novel self-consistent theoretical framework to characterize the formation, evolution, and merger sites of dynamically-formed black hole binaries, with a focus on explaining the most massive events observed by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration. Our approach couples the galaxy formation model GAMESH with cluster population synthesis codes to trace the cosmic evolution of globular clusters simultaneously with mergers of massive black holes. Our reference model, which includes prescriptions for both cluster formation and disruption depending on properties of specific galaxies, accurately reproduces the observed age-mass distribution of the Milky Way globular clusters. We find that approximately 30% of the globular clusters observed in our galaxy's halo may have originated from satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. We confirm that hierarchical black hole mergers provide a significant contribution to the formation of black holes in and above the pair-instability mass gap. However, quantifying their contribution is challenging, as different population synthesis codes yield divergent results in terms of black hole mass function and merger rates. Furthermore, we characterize the host galaxies where massive black holes form in terms of their dark matter, stellar mass, and metallicity. Ultimately, we demonstrate that the merger and birth rate densities of binary black holes increase with redshift till z = 5. This cosmic evolution is a crucial signature with significant implications for future detectors like the LISA, the Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer, which will be capable to probe the high-redshift Universe.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_11059
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Milky Way Globular Clusters: Nurseries for Dynamically-Formed Binary Black Holes
Angeloni, Federico
Kritos, Konstantinos
Schneider, Raffaella
Berti, Emanuele
Graziani, Luca
Torniamenti, Stefano
Mapelli, Michela
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
We present a novel self-consistent theoretical framework to characterize the formation, evolution, and merger sites of dynamically-formed black hole binaries, with a focus on explaining the most massive events observed by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration. Our approach couples the galaxy formation model GAMESH with cluster population synthesis codes to trace the cosmic evolution of globular clusters simultaneously with mergers of massive black holes. Our reference model, which includes prescriptions for both cluster formation and disruption depending on properties of specific galaxies, accurately reproduces the observed age-mass distribution of the Milky Way globular clusters. We find that approximately 30% of the globular clusters observed in our galaxy's halo may have originated from satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. We confirm that hierarchical black hole mergers provide a significant contribution to the formation of black holes in and above the pair-instability mass gap. However, quantifying their contribution is challenging, as different population synthesis codes yield divergent results in terms of black hole mass function and merger rates. Furthermore, we characterize the host galaxies where massive black holes form in terms of their dark matter, stellar mass, and metallicity. Ultimately, we demonstrate that the merger and birth rate densities of binary black holes increase with redshift till z = 5. This cosmic evolution is a crucial signature with significant implications for future detectors like the LISA, the Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer, which will be capable to probe the high-redshift Universe.
title Milky Way Globular Clusters: Nurseries for Dynamically-Formed Binary Black Holes
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.11059