Hypercritical accretion during common envelopes in triples leading to binary black holes in the pair-instability-supernova mass gap

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Hydrodynamic studies of stellar-mass compact objects (COs) in a common envelope (CE) have shown that the accretion rate onto the CO is a few orders of magnitude below the Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton (BHL) estimate. This is several orders of magnitude above the Eddington limit and above the limit for neutrino-cooled accretion (i.e. hypercritical accretion or HCA). Considering that a binary system inside the CE of a third star accretes material at nearly the same rate as a single object of the same total mass, we propose stellar-evolution channels which form binary black hole (BBH) systems with its component masses within the pair-instability supernova (PISN) mass gap. Our model is based on HCA onto the BBH system engulfed into the CE of a massive tertiary star. Furthermore, we propose a mass transfer mode which allows to store mass lost by the binary onto a third star. Through the use of population synthesis simulations for the evolution of BBHs and standard binary-evolution principles for the interaction with a tertiary star, we are able to produce BBHs masses consistent with those estimated for GW190521. We also discuss the massive binary system Mk34 as a possible progenitor of BBHs in the PISN gap.

Original languageEnglish
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume522
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)1686-1696
Number of pages11
ISSN0035-8711
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Apr 2023

    Research areas

  • Accretion, accretion discs, stars: massive, stars: black holes, transients: black hole mergers, stars: evolution, DYNAMICAL FORMATION, EVOLUTION, STARS, MERGER, GROWTH, SCENARIO, PERTURBATIONS, SIMULATIONS, INCLINATION, RADIATION

ID: 348161734