Lower-mass-gap Black Holes in Dense Star Clusters

Abstract

The existence of compact stellar remnants in the mass range $2-5\,M_{\odot}$ has long been debated. This so-called lower mass gap was initially suggested by the lack of low-mass X-ray binary observations with accretors about $2-5\,M_{\odot}$, but it has recently been called into question following newer observations, including a lower-mass-gap candidate with a millisecond pulsar companion in the dense globular cluster NGC 1851. Here we model NGC 1851 with a grid of similar dense star clusters utilizing the state-of-the-art Monte Carlo $N$-body code \texttt{CMC}, and we specifically study the formation of lower-mass-gap black holes. We demonstrate that both massive star evolution and dynamical interactions can contribute to forming lower-mass-gap black holes. In general, the collapse of massive remnants formed through mergers of neutron stars or massive white dwarfs produces the largest number of lower-mass-gap black holes among all formation channels. However, in more massive clusters, supernova core collapse can contribute comparable numbers. Our NGC 1851-like models can reproduce millisecond pulsar -- lower-mass-gap black hole binaries similar to the observed system. Additionally, the lower-mass-gap black holes can also become components of dynamically assembled binaries, and some will be in merging black hole - neutron star systems similar to the recently detected gravitational wave source GW230529. However, the corresponding merger rate is probably $\lesssim 1~{\rm Gpc^{-3}\,yr^{-1}}$.