Stellar black hole binaries from two common envelope evolution phases in triple stellar systems

Abstract

We propose a triple-star evolutionary channel involving two common envelope evolution (CEE) phases to form close binary black hole (BBH) systems with an average positive effective inspiral spin $χ_{\rm eff}$ and a tail of systems having $χ_{\rm eff}<0$, as observed by gravitational wave detectors. $χ_{\rm eff}$ is the mass-weighted spin of the two merging BHs, and a positive (negative) value indicates an effective spin along (opposite) the orbital angular momentum. The first BH progenitor engulfs a low-mass star during the post-main-sequence evolution. The tertiary star spirals in and spins up the core, which forms the first BH at the first core-collapse supernova (CCSN) explosion. Its spin is along the orbital angular momentum of the inner binary, which can be highly inclined to the outer binary angular momentum. The secondary star later engulfs the BH in a second CEE phase and explodes as a CCSN to form the second BH with a spin that is more aligned with the orbital angular momentum of the two BHs. We use empirically calibrated initial distributions of triple-star systems consisting of two massive stars and impose a hierarchical stability criterion. We compare the predicted ratio of merging BBHs to CCSN explosion rates and find it is up to a factor of 2 larger than the observed rate. This channel can significantly contribute to the population of observed merging BBHs and can explain their qualitative spin distribution.