The effect of pair-instability mass loss on black-hole mergers

Authors: K. Belczynski, A. Heger, W. Gladysz, A. J. Ruiter, S. Woosley, G. Wiktorowicz, H.-Y. Chen, T. Bulik, R. O’Shaughnessy, D. E. Holz, C. L. Fryer, E. Berti - Astronomy and Astrophysics 2016 cited by 376

Context. Mergers of two stellar-origin black holes are a prime source of gravitational waves and are under intensive investigation. One crucial ingredient in their modeling has been neglected: pair-instability pulsation supernovae with associated severe mass loss may suppress the formation of massive black holes, decreasing black-hole-merger rates for the highest black-hole masses.