2021ApJ...907L...9N -
Astrophys. J., 907, L9-L9 (2021/January-3)
GW190521 may be an intermediate-mass ratio inspiral.
NITZ A.H. and CAPANO C.D.
Abstract (from CDS):
GW190521 is the first confident observation of a binary black hole merger with total mass M> 100M☉. Given the lack of observational constraints at these masses, we analyze GW190521 considering two different priors for the binary's masses: uniform in mass ratio and source-frame total mass, and uniform in source-frame component masses. For the uniform in mass-ratio prior, we find that the component masses are m1src=168–61+15M☉ and m2src=16–3+33M☉. The uniform in component-mass prior yields a bimodal posterior distribution. There is a low-mass-ratio mode (q< 4) with m1src=100–18+17M☉ and m2src=57–16+17M☉ and a high-mass-ratio mode (q≥ 4) with m1src=166–35+16M☉ and m2src=16–3+14M☉. Although the two modes have nearly equal posterior probability, the maximum-likelihood parameters are in the high-mass-ratio mode, with m1src=171M☉ and m2src=16M☉, and a signal-to-noise ratio of 16. These results are consistent with the proposed "mass gap" produced by pair-instability in supernovae. Our results differ from those published in Abbott et al. We find that a combination of the prior used and the constraints applied may have prevented that analysis from sampling the high-mass-ratio mode. An accretion flare in AGN J124942.3+344929 was observed in possible coincidence with GW190521 by the Zwicky Transient Facility. We report parameters assuming a common origin; however, the spatial agreement of GW190521 and the electromagnetic flare alone does not provide convincing evidence for the association (ln B ≳-4).
Abstract Copyright:
© 2021. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
Journal keyword(s):
Gravitational waves
Simbad objects:
7
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