The first mass peak of merging black holes from core binding energies and jet-driven explosions
Abstract
We show that the jittering-jets explosion mechanism (JJEM) can qualitatively reproduce the shape of the black hole (BH) mass distribution observed by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA and quantitatively reproduce the peak around Mp1 ≃ 10 M⊙. To show this, we construct a toy model that captures the JJEM physics that explodes all massive stars, even when BHs form. According to the JJEM, BHs form when the star's binding energy is large, implying a massive progenitor with initial mass Mi ≳ 25 M⊙, and when jets are launched along a fixed axis, implying a rapidly rotating pre-collapse stellar core. In this case, the jets are launched along the core's angular momentum and are inefficient at removing mass near the equatorial plane; when the stellar binding energy is large, a large fraction of the equatorial mass is accreted to form the BH. The toy model includes two parameters: the threshold binding energy in the core for BH formation and the jet opening angle along the poles. Although our finding is encouraging for the JJEM, future hydrodynamical simulations must determine the exact condition for BH formation in the JJEM and the BH mass.
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BibTeX
@misc{wang2026first,
title = {{The first mass peak of merging black holes from core binding energies and jet-driven explosions}},
author = {Nikki Yat Ning Wang and Dmitry Shishkin and Noam Soker},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.39801},
eprint = {2610.39801},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.39801},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The first mass peak of merging black holes from core binding energies and jet-driven explosions
AU - Nikki Yat Ning Wang
AU - Dmitry Shishkin
AU - Noam Soker
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/29
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.39801
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.39801
AB - We show that the jittering-jets explosion mechanism (JJEM) can qualitatively reproduce the shape of the black hole (BH) mass distribution observed by LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA and quantitatively reproduce the peak around M_p1 ≃ 10 M_⊙. To show this, we construct a toy model that captures the JJEM physics that explodes all massive stars, even when BHs form. According to the JJEM, BHs form when the star's binding energy is large, implying a massive progenitor with initial mass M_i ≳ 25 M_⊙, and when jets are launched along a fixed axis, implying a rapidly rotating pre-collapse stellar core. In this case, the jets are launched along the core's angular momentum and are inefficient at removing mass near the equatorial plane; when the stellar binding energy is large, a large fraction of the equatorial mass is accreted to form the BH. The toy model includes two parameters: the threshold binding energy in the core for BH formation and the jet opening angle along the poles. Although our finding is encouraging for the JJEM, future hydrodynamical simulations must determine the exact condition for BH formation in the JJEM and the BH mass.
ER -