We introduce a novel black hole mass function which realistically models the physics of star formation and pair instability supernova with a minimal number of parameters. Applying this to all events in the LIGO-Virgo GWTC-2 catalog, we detect a peak at M_BHMG = 74.8^{ +4.3}_{ -8.0} MS, followed by a break in the mass function. Repeating the analysis without the black holes from the event GW190521, we find this feature at M_BHMG = 55.4^{ +3.0}_{ -6.1} MS. The latter result establishes the edge of the anticipated "black hole mass gap" at a value compatible with the expectation from standard stellar structure theory, while the former result is ~ 20MS higher, which would have far-reaching implications if confirmed. Using Bayesian techniques, we establish that our mass function fits a new catalog of black hole masses approximately as well as the pre-existing phenomenological mass functions. We also remark on the implications of these results for constraining or discovering new phenomena in nuclear and particle physics.
Categories: astro-ph.CO astro-ph.IM astro-ph.SR gr-qc hep-ph