Spins of black holes in coalescing compact binaries (1907.04218v1)

Abstract: Modern astrophysical methods of determination of spins of rotating stellar-mass black hole in close binaries and of supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei are briefly discussed. Effective spins of coalescing binary black holes derived from LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave observations are specially addressed. We consider three types of coalescing binaries: double black holes, black hole-neutron star binaries and primordial double black holes. The effective spins of coalescing astrophysical binary black holes and black holes with neutron stars are calculated for two plausible models of black hole formations from stellar core collapses (without or with additional fallback from the stellar envelope) taking into account the stellar metallicity and star formation rate evolution in the Universe. The calculated distributions do not contradict the reported LIGO/Virgo observations. The effective spins of primordial coalescing stellar-mass black holes can reach a few per cent due to accretion spin-up in the cold external medium.