GW190711_030756 and GW200114_020818: astrophysical interpretation of two asymmetric binary black hole mergers in the IAS catalog

Tousif Islam; Tejaswi Venumadhav; Digvijay Wadekar; Ajit Kumar Mehta; Javier Roulet; Jonathan Mushkin; Mark Ho-Yeuk Cheung; Barak Zackay; Matias Zaldarriaga

arXiv · 2604.07388

GW190711_030756 and GW200114_020818: astrophysical interpretation of two asymmetric binary black hole mergers in the IAS catalog

Tousif Islam·Tejaswi Venumadhav·Digvijay Wadekar·Ajit Kumar Mehta·Javier Roulet·Jonathan Mushkin·Mark Ho-Yeuk Cheung·Barak Zackay·Matias Zaldarriaga

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Abstract

We provide a comprehensive analysis of GW190711_030756 and GW200114_020818, two of the most significant binary black hole merger candidates in the IAS catalog, with probabilities of astrophysical origin $p_{\rm astro}=0.99$ and $0.71$, respectively, and signal-to-noise ratios of approximately $10.0$ and $13.4$. We employ numerical relativity surrogate models to infer both the source properties and the remnant properties of these two candidates. We find that both GW190711_030756 and GW200114_020818 are asymmetric-mass binaries, with inferred mass ratios of $0.35^{+0.32}_{-0.15}$ and $\leq 0.20$. In addition, GW200114_020818 is inferred to have a source-frame total mass of approximately $220M_{\odot}$ and highly spinning black holes, with primary (secondary) dimensionless spin magnitudes of $0.96^{+0.03}_{-0.07}$ ($0.84^{+0.13}_{-0.34}$), closely resembling GW231123_135430. We further find that GW200114\_020818 has a confidently negative effective inspiral spin of $χ_{\rm eff}=-0.60^{+0.22}_{-0.13}$ and exhibits strong spin precession, characterized by an effective precession parameter of $χ_{\rm p}=0.60^{+0.21}_{-0.19}$. GW200114_020818 (when considered alongside GW231123_135430) points towards an emerging population of massive, rapidly spinning BBH mergers. While GW231123_135430 is consistent with mergers in globular clusters, producing systems like GW200114_020818 in such environments remains difficult even under hierarchical merger scenarios. The probability that the remnant black hole of GW190711_030756 (GW200114_020818) is retained in its host environment is $0.079$ ($0.0002$), $0.62$ ($0.965$), and $0.997$ ($1$) if the merger occurred in a globular cluster, a nuclear star cluster, or an elliptical galaxy, respectively.

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Tousif Islam, Tejaswi Venumadhav, Digvijay Wadekar, Ajit Kumar Mehta, Javier Roulet, Jonathan Mushkin, Mark Ho-Yeuk Cheung, Barak Zackay, Matias Zaldarriaga. 2026-04-08. GW190711_030756 and GW200114_020818: astrophysical interpretation of two asymmetric binary black hole mergers in the IAS catalog. https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.07388

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