Quantifying the Evidence Against a Mass Gap between Black Holes and Neutron Stars

Abstract

The lack of objects between 2 and 5 M ⊙ in the joint mass distribution of compact objects has been termed the “mass gap,” and attributed mainly to the characteristics of the supernova mechanism precluding their birth. However, recent observations show that a number of candidates reported to lie inside the “gap” may fill it, suggesting instead a paucity that may be real or largely a result of small number statistics. We quantify in this work the individual candidates and evaluate the joint probability of a mass gap. Our results show that an absolute mass gap is not present, to a very high confidence level. It remains to be seen if a relative paucity of objects stands in the future, and how this population can be related to the formation processes, which may include neutron star mergers, the collapse of a neutron star to a black hole, and others.