Collapse of Rotating Stellar Cores in Single and Binary Systems: From SN 1987A to Coalescing Black Holes

Abstract

The observed special features of SN 1987A may indicate that this supernova has a quickly rotating progenitor formed as the result of the evolution of a close binary system. The possibility for the formation of quickly rotating collapsing cores of massive stars and the frequency of their formation are studied here within the standard scenario of the evolution of massive binary systems. Possible evolutionary channels of the production of binary black holes whose parameters (masses and spins) are determined from the LIGO observation of gravitational-wave signals (GW150914, LTV151012, GW151226, and GW170104) are analyzed.