Bayesian analysis of the spin distribution of LIGO/Virgo black holes

Gravitational wave detection from binary black hole (BBH) inspirals has become routine thanks to the LIGO/Virgo interferometers. The nature of these black holes remains uncertain. We study here the spin distributions of LIGO/Virgo black holes from the first catalog GWTC-1 and the first four publishe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PHYSICS OF THE DARK UNIVERSE 2021-01, Vol.31, p.100791, Article 100791
Main Authors: García-Bellido, Juan, Nuño Siles, José Francisco, Ruiz Morales, Ester
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Black hole binaries
Gravitational waves
Spin
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Summary:Gravitational wave detection from binary black hole (BBH) inspirals has become routine thanks to the LIGO/Virgo interferometers. The nature of these black holes remains uncertain. We study here the spin distributions of LIGO/Virgo black holes from the first catalog GWTC-1 and the first four published BBH events from run O3. We compute the Bayes evidence for several independent priors: flat, isotropic, spin-aligned and anti-aligned. We find strong evidence for low spins in all of the cases, and significant evidence for small isotropic spins versus any other distribution. When considered as a homogeneous population of black holes, these results give support to the idea that LIGO/Virgo black holes are primordial.
ISSN:2212-6864
2212-6864
DOI:10.1016/j.dark.2021.100791