{
  "id": "2312.13459",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2023-12-20T22:20:18.000Z",
  "updated": "2023-12-20T22:20:18.000Z",
  "title": "Prediction of Multiple Features in the Black Hole Mass Function due to Pulsational Pair-Instability Supernovae",
  "authors": [
    "Djuna Croon",
    "Jeremy Sakstein"
  ],
  "comment": "6 pages, 4 figures",
  "categories": [
    "astro-ph.HE",
    "astro-ph.SR",
    "gr-qc",
    "hep-ph"
  ],
  "abstract": "Using high-resolution simulations of black hole formation from the direct collapse of massive stars undergoing pulsational pair-instability supernovae (PPISN), we find a new phenomenon which significantly affects the explosion and leads to two peaks in the resulting black hole mass function (BHMF). Lighter stars experiencing the pair-instability can form a narrow shell in which alpha ladder reactions take place, exacerbating the effect of the PPISN. The shell temperature in higher mass stars ($>62 {\\rm M}_\\odot $ at the onset of helium burning for population-III stars with metallicity $Z=10^{-5}$) is too low for this to occur. As a result, the spectrum of black holes $M_{\\rm BH} (M_i)$ exhibits a shoulder feature whereby a large range of initial masses result in near-identical black hole masses. PPISN therefore predict two peaks in the mass function of astrophysical black holes -- one corresponding to the location of the upper black hole mass gap and a second corresponding to the location of the shoulder. This shoulder effect may explain the peak at $35_{-2.9}^{+1.7}{\\rm M}_\\odot$ in the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA GWTC-3 catalog of merging binary black holes.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2023-12-20T22:20:18.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "black hole mass function",
      "multiple features",
      "black hole mass gap",
      "undergoing pulsational pair-instability supernovae",
      "stars undergoing pulsational pair-instability"
    ],
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 6,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable"
    }
  }
}