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PreprintCC BY 4.0arXiv

Ultralight Bosons Explain the Mass-Spin Correlations in the Merging Binary Black Hole Population

  • Xiao-Xiao Kou
  • Vuk Mandic
  • Ran Ding
  • Chi Tian
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Abstract

Ultralight bosons could trigger superradiant instabilities in rapidly spinning black holes, forming oscillating clouds while extracting rotational energy. We consider an extended, superradiance-informed spin distribution model that characterizes possible environment-induced spin variations and compare its predictions with the observed population of merging black hole binaries in the Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalogs (GWTCs). We find that the mass-spin relation predicted by a scalar boson with mass mb∼ 10−12 eV is consistent with the GWTCs, with increasing significance from GWTC-3.0 to 5.0. The Bayes factor reaches ln B ≈ 7.8 for GWTC-5.0. Intriguingly, this mass range largely coincides with a previous study based on a waveform analysis of the GW190728 gravitational wave event. Our findings provide compelling evidence that a superradiance-informed spin distribution model is highly compatible with the expanding binary black hole population dataset.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{kou2026ultralight,
  title = {{Ultralight Bosons Explain the Mass-Spin Correlations in the Merging Binary Black Hole Population}},
  author = {Xiao-Xiao Kou and Vuk Mandic and Ran Ding and Chi Tian},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.02678},
  eprint = {2609.02678},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.02678},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Ultralight Bosons Explain the Mass-Spin Correlations in the Merging Binary Black Hole Population
AU  - Xiao-Xiao Kou
AU  - Vuk Mandic
AU  - Ran Ding
AU  - Chi Tian
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/02
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.02678
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.02678
AB  - Ultralight bosons could trigger superradiant instabilities in rapidly spinning black holes, forming oscillating clouds while extracting rotational energy. We consider an extended, superradiance-informed spin distribution model that characterizes possible environment-induced spin variations and compare its predictions with the observed population of merging black hole binaries in the Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalogs (GWTCs). We find that the mass-spin relation predicted by a scalar boson with mass m_b∼ 10^−12 eV is consistent with the GWTCs, with increasing significance from GWTC-3.0 to 5.0. The Bayes factor reaches ln B ≈ 7.8 for GWTC-5.0. Intriguingly, this mass range largely coincides with a previous study based on a waveform analysis of the GW190728 gravitational wave event. Our findings provide compelling evidence that a superradiance-informed spin distribution model is highly compatible with the expanding binary black hole population dataset.
ER  -