Formation of the first three gravitational-wave observations through isolated binary evolution

Simon Stevenson; Alejandro Vigna-Gómez; Ilya Mandel; Jim W. Barrett; Coenraad J. Neijssel; David Perkins; Selma E. De Mink

doi:10.1038/ncomms14906

Formation of the first three gravitational-wave observations through isolated binary evolution

Simon Stevenson, Alejandro Vigna-Gómez, Ilya Mandel, Jim W. Barrett, Coenraad J. Neijssel, David Perkins, Selma E. De Mink

School of Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review

223 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

During its first four months of taking data, Advanced LIGO has detected gravitational waves from two binary black hole mergers, GW150914 and GW151226, along with the statistically less significant binary black hole merger candidate LVT151012. Here we use the rapid binary population synthesis code COMPAS to show that all three events can be explained by a single evolutionary channel-classical isolated binary evolution via mass transfer including a common envelope phase. We show all three events could have formed in low-metallicity environments (Z=0.001) from progenitor binaries with typical total masses ≥160M, ≥60M and ≥90M, for GW150914, GW151226 and LVT151012, respectively.

Original language	English
Article number	14906
Number of pages	7
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14906
Publication status	Published - 5 Apr 2017

Keywords

gravitational waves
binary mergers
neutron stars

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AU - Vigna-Gómez, Alejandro

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AU - Neijssel, Coenraad J.

AU - Perkins, David

AU - De Mink, Selma E.

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Formation of the first three gravitational-wave observations through isolated binary evolution

Abstract

Keywords

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