The boring history of Gaia BH3 from isolated binary evolution

Gaia BH3 is the first observed dormant black hole (BH) with a mass of ≈30 M_⊙ and represents the first confirmation that such massive BHs are associated with metal-poor stars. Here, we explore the isolated binary formation channel for Gaia BH3 focusing on the old and metal-poor stellar population of the Milky Way halo. We use our open-source population synthesis code SEVN to evolve 3.2 × 10^8 binaries exploring 16 sets of parameters. We find that systems like Gaia BH3 form preferentially from binaries initially composed of a massive star (40-60 M_⊙) and a low mass companion (<1 M_⊙) in a wide (P>10^3 days) and eccentric orbit (e>0.6). Such progenitors do not undergo any Roche-lobe overflow episode during their entire evolution, so that the final orbital properties of the BH-star system are essentially determined at the core collapse of the primary star. Low natal kicks (≈ 10 km/s) significantly favour the formation of Gaia BH3-like systems, but high velocity kicks up to ≈ 220 km/s are also allowed. We estimate the formation efficiency for Gaia BH3-like systems in old (t>10 Gyr) and metal-poor (Z<0.01) populations to be 4 × 10^-8 M_⊙^-1, representing ≈ 3% of the whole simulated BH-star population. We expect up to ∼ 3000 BH-star systems in the Galactic halo formed through isolated evolution, of which ∼ 100 are compatible with Gaia BH3 alike. Gaia BH3-like systems represent a common product of isolated binary evolution at low metallicity (Z<0.01), but given the steep density profile of the Galactic halo we do not expect more than one in the halo at the observed distance of Gaia BH3. Considering the estimated formation efficiency for both the isolated and dynamical formation channel, we conclude that they are almost equally likely to explain the origin of Gaia BH3.