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The merger of two massive 30 Msun black holes has been detected ingravitational waves (1,GW150914). This discovery validates recent predictions(2-4) that massive binary black holes would constitute the first detection.However, previous calculations have not sampled the relevant binary black holeprogenitors---massive, low-metallicity binary stars---with sufficient accuracyand input physics to enable robust predictions to better than several orders ofmagnitude (5-10). Here we report a suite of high-precision numericalsimulations of binary black hole formation via the evolution of isolated binarystars, providing a framework to interpret GW150914 and predict the propertiesof subsequent binary black hole gravitational-wave events. Our models implythat these events form in an environment where the metallicity is less than 10percent of solar; have initial masses of 40-100 Msun; and interact through masstransfer and a common envelope phase. Their progenitors likely form either at 2Gyr, or somewhat less likely, at 11 Gyr after the Big Bang. Most binary blackholes form without supernova explosions, and their spins are nearly unchangedsince birth, but do not have to be parallel. The classical field formation ofbinary black holes proposed in this study, with low natal kicks and restrictedcommon envelope evolution, produces 40 times more binary black holes thandynamical formation channels involving globular clusters (11) and is comparableto the rate from homogeneous evolution channels (12-15). Our calculationspredict detections of about 1,000 black hole mergers per year with total massof 20-80 Msun once second generation ground-based gravitational waveobservatories reach full sensitivity.

The first gravitational-wave source from the isolated evolution of two 40-100 Msun stars