Twin Peaks: Resolving Features in the Binary Black Hole Mass Function with COSMIC-METISSE

Abstract

Gravitational waves from inspiraling binary black holes (BBHs) provide insights into the lives and deaths of massive stars. Population synthesis allows us to model these binaries through isolated binary evolution, but its predictive power is limited by difficulties in varying the stellar models and their associated uncertainties. We present a new grid of stellar tracks computed with the open-source stellar evolution code MESA, spanning metallicities $10^{-3} \le Z/Z_{\odot} \le 7$. We vary two stellar physics parameters: wind-driven mass loss and the convective boundary mixing (CBM) mechanism. We pair these models with the Method of Interpolation for Single Stellar Evolution (METISSE) and binary population synthesis code COSMIC to obtain synthetic populations of merging BBHs in the local Universe. We find a maximum in the primary mass spectrum near $10M_\odot$ which in most model variations is composed of two sub-populations at $\approx8M_{\odot}$ and $\approx13 M_\odot$, with the higher-mass population dominated by BBHs whose progenitors underwent a mass ratio reversal (MRR). This population also suggests an anticorrelation between higher primary masses and mass ratio, as BBHs with $m_1\gtrapprox10M_\odot$ preferentially undergo MRR and prefer a final mass ratio of $q\approx0.7$. However, the location and relative strength of these two sub-populations is sensitive to our assumed stellar physics: varying both the wind and CBM treatments can merge the MRR and non-MRR populations into a single peak near $9M_\odot$. Variations in our stellar tracks, especially CBM, lead to a factor of $\approx6$ difference in the rate, primarily due to modulation of the common envelope formation channel.