Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-tsvsl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-26T17:02:07.471Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Constraining the progenitor evolution of GW 150914

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 December 2019

Jorick S. Vink
Jorick S. Vink*
Affiliation:
Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, BT61 9DG Armagh, College Hill, Northern Ireland email: jorick.vink@armagh.ac.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

One of the largest surprises from the LIGO results regarding the first gravitational wave detection (GW 150914) was the fact the black holes (BHs) were “heavy”, of order 30 - 40 Mȯ. The most promising explanation for this obesity is that the BH-BH merger occurred at low metallicity (Z): when the iron (Fe) contents is lower this is expected to result in weaker mass loss during the Wolf-Rayet (WR) phase. We therefore critically evaluate the claims for the reasons of heavy BHs as a function of Z in the literature. Furthermore, weaker stellar winds might lead to more rapid stellar rotation, allowing WR and BH progenitor evolution in a chemically homogeneous manner. However, there is as yet no empirical evidence for more rapid rotation amongst WR stars in the low Z environment of the Magellanic Clouds. Due to the intrinsic challenge of determining WR rotation rates from emission lines, the most promising avenue to constrain rotation-rate distributions amongst various WR subgroups is through the utilisation of their emission lines in polarised light. We thus provide an overview of linear spectro-polarimetry observations of both single and binary WRs in the Galaxy, as well as the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, at 50% and 20% of solar Z, respectively. Initial results suggest that the route of chemically homogeneous evolution (CHE) through stellar rotation is challenging, whilst the alternative of a post-LBV or common envelope evolution is more likely.

Keywords

gravitational wavespolarizationstars: early-typestars: evolutionstars: mass lossstars: rotationstars: windsoutflowsstars: Wolf-Rayet
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 14 , Symposium S346: High-mass X-ray Binaries: Illuminating the Passage from Massive Binaries to Merging Compact Objects , August 2018 , pp. 444 - 448
Copyright
© International Astronomical Union 2019 

References

Abbott, D. C. 1982, ApJ, 259, 282 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abbott, B. P., Abbott, R., Abbott, T. D., et al. 2016, ApJL, 818, L22 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belczynski, K., Bulik, T., Fryer, C. L., et al. 2010, ApJ, 714, 1217 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belczynski, K., Holz, D. E., Bulik, T., & O’Shaughnessy, R. 2016, Nature, 534, 512 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castro, N., Oey, M. S., Fossati, L., & Langer, N. 2018, arXiv:1810.04682Google Scholar
Cranmer, S. R., & Owocki, S. P. 1995, ApJ, 440, 308 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eldridge, J. J., & Vink, J. S. 2006, A&A, 452, 295 Google Scholar
Friend, D. B., & Abbott, D. C. 1986, ApJ, 311, 701 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hainich, R., Pasemann, D., Todt, H., et al. 2015, A&A, 581, A21 Google Scholar
Higgins, E. R. & Vink, J. S., 2018, A&A submittedGoogle Scholar
Hirschi, R. 2015, Very Massive Stars in the Local Universe, 412, 157 Google Scholar
Hurley, J. R., Pols, O. R., & Tout, C. A. 2000, MNRAS, 315, 543 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kudritzki, R. P., Pauldrach, A., & Puls, J. 1987, A&A, 173, 293 Google Scholar
Langer, N. 2012, ARA&A, 50, 107 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maeder, A., & Meynet, G. 2000, A&A, 361, 159 Google Scholar
Mandel, I., & de Mink, S. E. 2016, MNRAS, 458, 2634 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marchant, P., Langer, N., Podsiadlowski, P., Tauris, T. M., & Moriya, T. J. 2016, A&A, 588, A50 Google Scholar
Müller, P. E., & Vink, J. S. 2008, A&A, 492, 493 Google Scholar
Müller, P. E., & Vink, J. S. 2014, A&A, 564, A57 Google Scholar
Pelupessy, I., Lamers, H. J. G. L. M., & Vink, J. S. 2000, A&A, 359, 695 Google Scholar
Vink, J. S. 2017, A&A, 607, L8 Google Scholar
Vink, J. S., & de Koter, A. 2005, A&A, 442, 587 Google Scholar
Vink, J. S., & Harries, T. J. 2017, A&A, 603, A120 Google Scholar
Vink, J. S., de Koter, A., & Lamers, H. J. G. L. M. 2001, A&A, 369, 574 Google Scholar
Vink, J. S., Gräfener, G., & Harries, T. J. 2011, A&A, 536, L10 Google Scholar
Vink, J. S., Heger, A., Krumholz, M. R., et al. 2015, Highlights of Astronomy, 16, 51 Google Scholar
Woosley, S. E., & Heger, A. 2015, Very Massive Stars in the Local Universe, 412, 199 Google Scholar
Yoon, S.-C., & Langer, N. 2005, A&A, 443, 643 Google Scholar