Hints of spin-magnitude correlations and a rapidly spinning subpopulation of binary black holes

Understand

The complex astrophysical processes leading to the formation of binary black holes and their eventual merger are imprinted on the spins of the individual black holes.

• We revisit the astrophysical distribution of those spins based on gravitational waves from the third gravitational wave transient catalog GWTC-3, (Abbott et al.
• 2023a), looking for structure in the two-dimensional space defined by the dimensionless spin magnitudes of the heavier ($\chi_1$) and lighter ($\chi_2$) component black holes.
• We find support for two distinct subpopulations with greater than $95\%$ credibility.