Journal article
Gravitational-wave constraints on the pair-instability mass gap and nuclear burning in massive stars
- Abstract:
- Pair-instability should prevent the direct formation of black holes above about 50M⊙ creating a “pair-instability” mass gap. Yet gravitational-wave obser vations have detected black holes in this mass range. These systems can be explained with uncertainties in massive-star evolution, or hierarchical mergers in stellar clusters, which are expected to produce large spins with isotropic orien tations. Here we present evidence for the pair-instability mass gap in the LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA fourth transient catalog, with a lower edge at 44.3 +5.9 −3.5 M⊙. We also obtain a measurement of the 12C(α, γ) 35 16O reaction rate, yielding an Sfactor of 268+195 −116 keV b, a parameter critical for modeling helium burning and stellar evolution. The data reveal two populations: a low-spin group with no black holes above the gap, and a high-spin, isotropic group that extends across the full mass range and occupies the gap, consistent with hierarchical mergers. These findings are consistent with pair-instability playing a role in shaping the black hole mass spectrum, point to a connection between gravitational wave astronomy and nuclear astrophysics, and highlight dense stellar clusters as key environments in the growth of black holes.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 3.4MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1038/s41550-026-02847-0
Authors
+ Leverhulme Trust
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- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/012mzw131
- Grant:
- LIP-2020-014
+ Simons Foundation
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- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/01cmst727
- Grant:
- 930121
+ Science and Technology Facilities Council
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- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/057g20z61
- Grant:
- ST/W000903/1
- Publisher:
- Springer Nature
- Journal:
- Nature Astronomy More from this journal
- Publication date:
- 2026-05-07
- Acceptance date:
- 2026-03-26
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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2397-3366
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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2404571
- Local pid:
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pubs:2404571
- Deposit date:
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2026-04-11
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Antonini et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2026
- Rights statement:
- Copyright © 2026, The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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