The LIGO/Virgo detections of gravitational waves from merging black holes of ≃ 30 solar mass suggest progenitor stars of low metallicity (Z/Z⊙≲0.3). In this talk I will provide constrains on where the progenitors of GW150914 and GW170104 may have formed, based on advanced models of galaxy formation and evolution combined with binary population synthesis models. First I will combine estimates of galaxy properties (star-forming gas metallicity, star formation rate and merger rate) across cosmic time to predict the low redshift BBH merger rate as a function of present day host galaxy mass, formation redshift of the progenitor system and different progenitor metallicities. I will show that the signal is dominated by binaries formed at the peak of star formation in massive galaxies with and binaries formed recently in dwarf galaxies. Then, I will present what very high resolution hydrodynamic simulations of different galaxy types can learn us about their black hole populations.
@article{arxiv.1801.03121,
title = {Merging massive black holes: the right place and the right time},
author = {Astrid Lamberts},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1801.03121},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
Proceeding of IAU Symposium 338 : "Gravitational Waves Astrophysics : Early results from GW searches and EM counterparts"