A Census of Stellar-mass Black Holes in the Milky Way with POPKIN. I. Isolated Black Holes

arXiv:2609.29211 · astro-ph.GA, astro-ph.HE, astro-ph.SR · Submitted 2026-09-24 · Read on arXiv

astro-ph.GA, astro-ph.HE, astro-ph.SR

Submitted: 2026-09-24

Updated: 2026-09-24

Comments: 61 pages, 41 figures, 7 tables; submitted to AAS Journals. This paper includes a Python code, POPKIN, that combines population synthesis with stellar kinematics. Comments welcome

Code: https://github.com/JianguoHe/POPKIN

License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/

Terminology

• Core — 69× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Metallicity — 63× in this paper · explained in 3 episodes
• Microlensing — 51× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Population Synthesis — 20× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Calibration — 7× in this paper · explained in 7 episodes
• Abundance — 6× in this paper · explained in 1 episode
• Accretion Flows — 5× in this paper · explained in 1 episode
• Trace — 4× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Velocity Dispersion — 4× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• AGN — 1× in this paper
• Accretion Efficiency — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Accuracy — 1× in this paper · explained in 1 episode
• Consistency — 1× in this paper · explained in 3 episodes
• Decoupling — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Generative AI — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Initial Mass Function (IMF) — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Modular Architecture — 1× in this paper · explained in 4 episodes
• Robustness — 1× in this paper · explained in 5 episodes
• Square Kilometre Array — 1× in this paper
• Unified Framework — 1× in this paper · explained in 5 episodes
• Whether Hertzsprung-gap — 1× in this paper

Sources

• A Be star-black hole binary with a wide orbit from LAMOST time-domain survey
• The radial distribution of OB star formation in the Galaxy
• Multi-wavelength Emission Modeling from Accretion Flows around Isolated Black Holes Including Magnetic Flux Transport
• Roman CCS White Paper: Characterizing the Galactic population of isolated black holes
• eROSITA Science Book: Mapping the Structure of the Energetic Universe
• Constraints on mass ejection in black hole formation, derived from black hole X-ray binaries
• The Origin and Evolution of Multiple Star Systems
• Stability Criteria for Mass Transfer in Binary Stellar Evolution
• GWTC-5.0: Population Properties of Merging Compact Binaries
• GWTC-4.0: Updating the Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog with Observations from the First Part of the Fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Observing Run
• GWTC-4.0: Population Properties of Merging Compact Binaries
• GWTC-5.0: Observations from the Second Part of the Fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Observing Run and Updates to the Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog
• Evidence of polar and ultralow supernova kicks from the orbits of Be X-ray binaries
• Charting the Galactic Underworld I: Comprehensive simulations of the kinematics, rates, and demographics of Milky Way black holes
• Good things always come in 3s: trimodality in the binary black-hole chirp-mass distribution supports bimodal black-hole formation
• Science with the X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM)
• The formation of merging black holes via stable mass transfer in massive binary stars

Related papers

• Apparent Stability in Self-Gravitating Turbulence and the Evolution of Molecular Clouds
• Two sets of potential-density basis pairs for the study of radial perturbations in collisionless spherical stellar systems
• Constraining reionization-era Ly alpha escape with JELS-MUSE: a highly complete H alpha-selected sample at z about6.1
• Deriving volume density profiles of filaments from observed surface densities
• Little Red Dots and Supermassive Black Hole Seed Formation in Ultralight Dark Matter Halos
• MEGATRON: how the first stars can create an iron metallicity plateau in the smallest dwarf galaxies