The origin, environment, and evolution of stellar-mass black hole (BH) binaries are still a mystery. One of the proposed binary formation mechanisms is manifest in dynamical interactions between multiple BHs. A resulting framework of these dynamical interactions is the so-called hierarchical triple-merger scenario, which happens when three BHs become gravitationally bound, causing two successive BH mergers to occur. In such successive mergers, the BHs involved are directly related to each other, and hence this channel can be directly tested from the properties of the detected binary BH mergers. Here we present a search for hierarchical triple mergers among events within the first and second gravitational-wave transient catalogs of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory/Virgo, the eccentric localization of GW190521, and those found by the IAS-Princeton group. The search includes improved statistical quantification that also accounts for BH spins. We perform our analysis for different upper bounds on the mass distribution of first-generation BHs. Our results demonstrate the importance of the mass distributions’ properties for constraining the hierarchical merger scenario. We present the individually significant merger pairs. The search yields interesting candidate families and hints of its future impact.

恒星质量黑洞（BH）二进制文件的起源，环境和演化仍然是一个谜。所提出的二元形成机制之一表现在多个BH之间的动力学相互作用中。这些动态相互作用的结果框架是所谓的分层三重合并方案，它发生在三个BH受到重力约束而导致两次连续的BH合并发生时。在此类连续合并中，涉及的BH彼此直接相关，因此可以从检测到的二进制BH合并的属性中直接测试此通道。在这里，我们对激光干涉仪引力波天文台/处女座，GW190521的偏心定位，第一和第二条引力波瞬变目录中的事件之间的分层三重合并进行了搜索，以及IAS-普林斯顿小组发现的那些。搜索包括改进的统计量化，这也说明了BH自旋。我们对第一代BH的质量分布的不同上限进行分析。我们的结果证明了质量分布属性对于约束分层合并方案的重要性。我们介绍了各个重要的合并对。搜索产生了有趣的候选家族，并暗示了其未来的影响。我们介绍了各个重要的合并对。搜索产生了有趣的候选家族，并暗示了其未来的影响。我们介绍了各个重要的合并对。搜索产生了有趣的候选家族，并暗示了其未来的影响。