The spins of compact objects born from helium stars in binary systems

Understand

The angular momentum (AM) content of massive stellar cores helps to determine the natal spin rates of neutron stars and black holes.

• Asteroseismic measurements of low-mass stars have proven that stellar cores rotate slower than predicted by most prior work, so revised models are necessary.
• In this work, we apply an updated AM transport model based on the Tayler instability to massive helium stars in close binaries, in which tidal spin-up can greatly increase the star's AM.
• Consistent with prior work, these stars can produce highly spinning black holes upon core-collapse if the orbital period is less than $P_{\rm orb} \lesssim \! 1 \, {\rm day}$.