2017/06/29 by Fabio Pacucci, Abraham Loeb, Stefania Salvadori
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Bulge #Galaxy #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Gravitation #Gravitational wave #LIGO #Metallicity #Observatory #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Stars #Universe #astro-ph.CO #astro-ph.GA #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slx111
published as MNRAS Letters, Volume 471, Issue 1, p. L72-L76 (2017) · Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters
arxiv created 2017/06/29 · openalex publication_date 2017/07/03 · openalex created_date 2017/07/14 · arxiv updated 2017/08/25 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract The detection of gravitational waves (GWs) generated by merging black holes has recently opened up a new observational window into the Universe. The mass of the black holes in the first and third Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) detections (36–29 M⊙ and 32–19 M⊙) suggests low-metallicity stars as their most likely progenitors. Based on high-resolution N-body simulations, coupled with state-of-the-art metal enrichment models, we find that the remnants of Pop III stars are preferentially located within the cores of galaxies. The probability of a GW signal to be generated by Pop III stars reaches ∼90 per cent at ∼0.5 kpc from the galaxy centre, compared to a benchmark value of ∼5 per cent outside the core. The predicted merger rates inside bulges is ∼60 × βIII Gpc−3 yr−1 (βIII is the Pop III binarity fraction). To match the 90 per cent credible range of LIGO merger rates, we obtain: 0.03 < βIII < 0.88. Future advances in GW observatories and the discovery of possible electromagnetic counterparts could allow the localization of such sources within their host galaxies. The preferential concentration of GW events within the bulge of galaxies would then provide an indirect proof for the existence of Pop III stars.