Assembling GW231123 in Star Clusters through the Combination of Stellar Binary Evolution and Hierarchical Mergers

Abstract GW231123 is the most massive binary black hole (BBH) merger detected to date by the LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA collaboration. With at least one black hole (BH) in the upper mass gap and both BHs exhibiting high spins ( χ 1,2 ≳ 0.8), this event challenges standard isolated binary evolution models. A compelling alternative is a dynamical origin in star clusters, where stellar binaries and hierarchical mergers may both contribute to the formation of similar BBHs. In this work, we investigate the formation of GW231123-like events in different cluster environments using the B-pop semianalytic population synthesis code. We find that low-metallicity environments ( Z ≲ 0.002) are ideal for producing BBH mergers similar to GW231123. In young and globular clusters, these BBHs have components formed in stellar binaries, while in nuclear clusters, there is also a significant contribution from BHs built up via hierarchical mergers. The natal spins of BHs formed in stellar binaries are crucial to finding GW231123 analogs. In particular, our models suggest that BHs from stellar binaries are likely characterized by high spins. Simulated GW231123-like systems exhibit short delay times, t del ∼ 0.1–1 Gyr, suggesting their progenitors formed close to the inferred merger redshift ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>z</mml:mi> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.3</mml:mn> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>9</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.24</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.27</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> ). We argue that star clusters in metal-poor dwarf galaxies or Milky Way–like galaxies are ideal nurseries, inferring an upper limit to the local merger rate of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi class="MJX-tex-calligraphic" mathvariant="script">R</mml:mi> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1.6</mml:mn> <mml:mo>×</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.16</mml:mn> </mml:math> yr −1 Gpc −3 for nuclear clusters, ∼0.036–0.72 yr −1 Gpc −3 for globular clusters, and 4 × 10 −4 –0.041 yr −1 Gpc −3 for young clusters.