Beyond Hierarchical Mergers: Accretion-driven Origins of Massive, Highly Spinning Black Holes in Dense Star Clusters

Abstract GW231123, the most massive binary black hole (BBH) merger detected by LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA, highlights the need to understand the origins of massive, high-spin stellar black holes (BHs). Dense star clusters provide natural environments for forming such systems, beyond the limits of standard massive star evolution to core collapse. While repeated BBH mergers can grow BHs through dynamical interactions (the so-called “hierarchical merger” channel), most star clusters with masses ≲10 6 M ⊙ have escape speeds too low to retain higher-generation BHs, limiting growth into or beyond the mass gap. In contrast, BH–star collisions with subsequent accretion of the collision debris can grow and retain BHs irrespective of the cluster escape speed. Using N -body ( Cluster Monte Carlo ) simulations, we study BH growth and spin evolution through this process, and we find that accretion can drive BH masses up to at least ∼200 M ⊙ , with spins set by the details of the growth history. BHs up to about 150 M ⊙ can reach dimensionless spins χ ≳ 0.7 via single coherent episodes, while more massive BHs form through multiple stochastic accretion events and eventually spin down to χ ≲ 0.4. These BHs later form binaries through dynamical encounters, producing BBH mergers that contribute up to ∼10% of all detectable events, comparable to predictions for the hierarchical channel. However, the two pathways predict distinct signatures: hierarchical mergers yield more unequal mass ratios, whereas accretion-grown BHs preferentially form near-equal-mass binaries. The accretion-driven channel allows dense clusters with low escape speeds, such as globular clusters, to produce highly spinning BBHs with both components in or above the mass gap, providing a natural formation pathway to GW231123-like systems.