Packet 10: Tossup 2

These objects can form either directly or through fallback that occurs due to the deceleration of a shock front. Inspiraling pairs of these objects have produced larger characteristic strains at lower frequencies (15[1])than BNS events. These objects’ distribution has an “upper mass gap” because they cannot form from low-metallicity progenitors susceptible to pair-instability. These objects are the most massive (*) accretors in X-ray binaries and the most massive objects whose mergers have been detected by LIGO. (10[1])Weak neutrino shocks lead to the formation of these objects during “failed supernovae,” in which an iron core from a progenitor heavier than a few solar masses collapses into one of them. For 10 points, proto-neutron stars that exceed the TOV limit become what objects from which light cannot escape? ■END■

ANSWER: black holes [or stellar black holes; or stellar-mass black holes; accept binary black holes or BBHs; prompt on collapsars until “collapses” by asking, “what objects do they become?”; prompt on failed supernovae until “failed” but reject “supernovae”; reject “supermassive black holes” or “SMBH”]
<FW, Other Science (Astronomy)> | NAFTA-Packet-10
= Average correct buzzpoint

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