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When the black holes align: a subpopulation of aligned massive binary black holes observed via gravitational waves
Abstract
In this work, we investigate the features present in the joint primary mass and effective spin distribution of binary black holes without relying on specific modelling assumptions. We make use of non-parametric methods, flexible models capable of approximating arbitrary probability densities with minimal mathematical assumptions, applying it to the newly released GWTC-5.0. Our analysis supports, albeit with large uncertainties, the presence of at least two separate sub-population of binary black holes showing different effective spin distributions: one of them, preferring positive χeff values, points towards the direction of systems formed in a non-spherically-symmetric, dynamical environment.
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BibTeX
@misc{rinaldi2026when,
title = {{When the black holes align: a subpopulation of aligned massive binary black holes observed via gravitational waves}},
author = {Stefano Rinaldi and Charmaine Wong and M. Paola Vaccaro and Elvir Mislimi and Otto A. Hannuksela and Samson H. W. Leong and Michela Mapelli},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2606.23305},
eprint = {2606.23305},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.23305},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - When the black holes align: a subpopulation of aligned massive binary black holes observed via gravitational waves
AU - Stefano Rinaldi
AU - Charmaine Wong
AU - M. Paola Vaccaro
AU - Elvir Mislimi
AU - Otto A. Hannuksela
AU - Samson H. W. Leong
AU - Michela Mapelli
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/14
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2606.23305
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.23305
AB - In this work, we investigate the features present in the joint primary mass and effective spin distribution of binary black holes without relying on specific modelling assumptions. We make use of non-parametric methods, flexible models capable of approximating arbitrary probability densities with minimal mathematical assumptions, applying it to the newly released GWTC-5.0. Our analysis supports, albeit with large uncertainties, the presence of at least two separate sub-population of binary black holes showing different effective spin distributions: one of them, preferring positive χ_eff values, points towards the direction of systems formed in a non-spherically-symmetric, dynamical environment.
ER -