Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Magnetic Massive Stars As Progenitors Of ‘Heavy’ Stellar-Mass Black Holes, V. Petit, Z. Keszthelyi, R. Macinnis, David H. Cohen, R. H. D. Townsend, G. A. Wade, S. L. Thomas, S. P. Owocki, J. Puls, A. Ud-Doula

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

The groundbreaking detection of gravitational waves produced by the inspiralling and coalescence of the black hole (BH) binary GW150914 confirms the existence of ‘heavy’ stellar-mass BHs with masses >25 M⊙. Initial characterization of the system by Abbott et al. supposes that the formation of BHs with such large masses from the evolution of single massive stars is only feasible if the wind mass-loss rates of the progenitors were greatly reduced relative to the mass-loss rates of massive stars in the Galaxy, concluding that heavy BHs must form in low-metallicity (Z ≲ 0.25-0.5 Z⊙) environments. However, strong surface magnetic fields also …