The Pair Instability Mass Gap: Why Some Stars Are Too Massive to Form Black Holes
This newsletter edition discusses the upper mass limit for stellar-mass black holes formed via supernovae, specifically the "pair instability mass gap." It explains how very massive stars (130-260 solar masses) can undergo pair-instability supernovae that completely disrupt the star, leaving no black hole remnant, creating a gap in black hole masses between roughly 50 and 130 solar masses. The article builds on a previous discussion about the lower mass gap between neutron stars and black holes.
Key quotes
Last month we talked about how core-collapse supernovae can create black holes, but usually not below a certain mass (about five solar masses), leaving a so-called mass gap between the heaviest neutron stars and the lightest black holes.
This gap, you may remember, is caused by the timing of the supernova explosion.
Some stars are too big to make black holes.
From the article
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