No model-independent evidence for a peak in binary black hole spin (mis)alignments
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866917466533265408 |
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| author | Wolfe, Noah E. Vitale, Salvatore Zevin, Michael |
| author_facet | Wolfe, Noah E. Vitale, Salvatore Zevin, Michael |
| contents | The degree of black-hole spin-orbit misalignment ("tilts") in the astrophysical population could be a powerful diagnostic to distinguish between binary formation in isolation, in dynamical environments, or in hierarchical triples. However, robust population-level spin tilt measurements are complicated by model misspecification as well as numerical and Poisson variance, ultimately owing to poor single-event constraints on tilts. Motivated by reports of a possible peak in the spin tilt distribution, we analyze the fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA gravitational-wave transient catalog to test for preferred spin orientations at different black hole masses. We find that a peak in spin tilts is not statistically significant nor model independent. Since the data cannot be used to reliably identify subpopulations based on their spin tilt properties, we also consider a complementary approach: measuring the spin magnitude and tilt distributions at fixed mass scales. We find no confident correlation between mass and spin tilt, but we do confirm a confident correlation between spin magnitude and mass, corroborating recent analyses. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_05300 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | No model-independent evidence for a peak in binary black hole spin (mis)alignments Wolfe, Noah E. Vitale, Salvatore Zevin, Michael High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology The degree of black-hole spin-orbit misalignment ("tilts") in the astrophysical population could be a powerful diagnostic to distinguish between binary formation in isolation, in dynamical environments, or in hierarchical triples. However, robust population-level spin tilt measurements are complicated by model misspecification as well as numerical and Poisson variance, ultimately owing to poor single-event constraints on tilts. Motivated by reports of a possible peak in the spin tilt distribution, we analyze the fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA gravitational-wave transient catalog to test for preferred spin orientations at different black hole masses. We find that a peak in spin tilts is not statistically significant nor model independent. Since the data cannot be used to reliably identify subpopulations based on their spin tilt properties, we also consider a complementary approach: measuring the spin magnitude and tilt distributions at fixed mass scales. We find no confident correlation between mass and spin tilt, but we do confirm a confident correlation between spin magnitude and mass, corroborating recent analyses. |
| title | No model-independent evidence for a peak in binary black hole spin (mis)alignments |
| topic | High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.05300 |