Population of Binary Black Holes Inferred from One Hundred and Fifty Gravitational Wave Signals
- 1University of Birmingham
Abstract
The LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA collaborations have reported gravitational wave (GW) signals from more than 150 binary black holes (BBHs) in the fourth catalog (GWTC-4). Here, we investigate the population properties of these BBHs using the mixture-model framework Vamana. We present one-dimensional distributions of masses and spins, explore their correlations, and examine their evolution with redshift. These features may reflect astrophysical processes associated with BBH formation channels, although most remain poorly constrained. A notable feature is a peak near 10 M ⊙ in the primary mass and 8 M ⊙ in the chirp mass. Additionally, the primary and secondary masses correlate uniquely, producing pronounced chirp-mass peaks around 14 M ⊙ and 27 M ⊙ . The three peaks are roughly separated by a factor of two. A simple explanation for such well-placed peaks is a hierarchical merger scenario, in which the first peak dominantly arises from mergers of black holes (BHs) of stellar origin, and higher-mass peaks arise from repeated mergers of BHs from lower-mass peaks. Although most binaries do not exhibit the high spins and characteristic mass ratios expected from hierarchical mergers, those that do are associated with the peaks observed in the chirp mass distribution.
Related
- Detectability of bulk viscosity effects on post-merger gravitational wave signals from binary neutron star mergers
- Bridging the Population Synthesis of Supermassive Binary Black Holes and the Gravitational Wave Background
- Solar spicule population properties inferred from IRIS Mg II k off-limb spectra using likelihood-free Bayesian inference
- Limits on the Inferred Hubble Constant Bias from a Local McVittie Gravitational Field
- Solar spicule population properties inferred from IRIS Mg II k off-limb spectra using likelihood-free Bayesian inference
BibTeX
@article{tiwari2026population,
title = {{Population of Binary Black Holes Inferred from One Hundred and Fifty Gravitational Wave Signals}},
author = {Vaibhav Tiwari},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aea6bc},
url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aea6bc},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Population of Binary Black Holes Inferred from One Hundred and Fifty Gravitational Wave Signals
AU - Vaibhav Tiwari
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/02
JO - The Astrophysical Journal
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/aea6bc
UR - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aea6bc
AB - The LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA collaborations have reported gravitational wave (GW) signals from more than 150 binary black holes (BBHs) in the fourth catalog (GWTC-4). Here, we investigate the population properties of these BBHs using the mixture-model framework Vamana. We present one-dimensional distributions of masses and spins, explore their correlations, and examine their evolution with redshift. These features may reflect astrophysical processes associated with BBH formation channels, although most remain poorly constrained. A notable feature is a peak near 10 M ⊙ in the primary mass and 8 M ⊙ in the chirp mass. Additionally, the primary and secondary masses correlate uniquely, producing pronounced chirp-mass peaks around 14 M ⊙ and 27 M ⊙ . The three peaks are roughly separated by a factor of two. A simple explanation for such well-placed peaks is a hierarchical merger scenario, in which the first peak dominantly arises from mergers of black holes (BHs) of stellar origin, and higher-mass peaks arise from repeated mergers of BHs from lower-mass peaks. Although most binaries do not exhibit the high spins and characteristic mass ratios expected from hierarchical mergers, those that do are associated with the peaks observed in the chirp mass distribution.
SN - 1538-4357
SN - 0004-637X
ER -