Related papers: Pair-instability mass loss for top-down compact ob…
Binary population synthesis (BPS) employs prescriptions to predict final fates, explosion or implosion, and remnant masses based on one or two stellar parameters at the evolutionary cutoff imposed by the code, usually at or near central…
The mass distribution of neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes provides vital clues into the nature of stellar core collapse and the physical engine responsible for supernova explosions. Using recent advances in our understanding of…
Following the collapse of their cores, some of the massive binary stars that populate our Universe are expected to form merging binaries composed of black holes and neutron stars. Gravitational-wave observations of the resulting compact…
The first direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015 marked the beginning of a new era for the study of compact objects. Upcoming detectors, such as the Einstein Telescope, are expected to add thousands of binary coalescences to the…
A mass paucity of compact objects in the range of $\sim 2-5 ~M_\odot$ has been suggested by X-ray binary observations, namely, the "lower mass gap". Gravitational wave detections have unlocked another mass measurement method, and…
We analyze the LIGO/Virgo GWTC-2 catalog to study the primary mass distribution of the merging black holes. We perform hierarchical Bayesian analysis, and examine whether the mass distribution has a sharp cutoff for primary black hole…
Using the StarTrack population synthesis code we compute the distribution of masses of merging compact object (black hole or neutron star) binaries. The shape of the mass distribution is sensitive to some of the parameters governing the…
Understanding astrophysical phenomena involving compact objects requires an insight about the engine behind core-collapse supernovae (SNe) and the fate of the stellar collapse of massive stars. In particular, this insight is crucial in…
We study the lifetimes of the remnant produced by the merger of two neutron stars and revisit the determination of the threshold mass to prompt collapse, $M_{\rm th}$. Using a fully general-relativistic numerical approach and a novel method…
Gravitational wave observations of binary black holes have revealed unexpected structure in the black hole mass distribution. Previous studies of the mass distribution employ physically-motivated phenomenological models and infer the…
Compact Object Mergers: Population Astrophysics and Statistics (COMPAS; https://compas.science) is a public rapid binary population synthesis code. COMPAS generates populations of isolated stellar binaries under a set of parametrized…
A stochastic model of the chemical enrichment of metal-poor systems by core-collapse (Type II) supernovae is presented, allowing for large-scale mixing of the enriched material by turbulent motions and cloud collisions in the interstellar…
Pristine stars with masses between ~140 and 260 M_sun are theoretically predicted to die as pair-instability supernovae. These very massive progenitors could come from Pop III stars in the early universe. We model the light curves and…
Very massive stars are radiation pressure dominated. Before running out of viable nuclear fuel, they can reach a thermodynamic state where electron-positron pair-production robs them of radiation support, triggering their collapse.…
The detection of the binary black hole merger GW190521, with primary black hole mass $85^{+21}_{-14}$ ${\rm M}_{\odot}$, proved the existence of black holes in the theoretically predicted pair-instability gap ($\sim60-120 \, {\rm…
The observed sample of double neutron-star (NS-NS) binaries presents a challenge to population-synthesis models of compact object formation: the parameters entering into these models must be carefully chosen so as to match (i) the observed…
The threshold mass for prompt collapse in binary neutron star mergers was empirically found to depend on the stellar properties of the maximum-mass non-rotating neutron star model. Here we present a semi-analytic derivation of this…
The mass distribution of compact objects provides a fossil record that can be studied to uncover information on the late stages of massive star evolution, the supernova explosion mechanism, and the dense matter equation of state.…
We present analytic formulae that approximate the evolution of stars for a wide range of mass and metallicity. Stellar luminosity, radius and core mass are given as a function of age, M and Z, for all phases from the zero-age main-sequence…
Massive stars (M> 10Msun) end their lives with spectacular explosions due to gravitational collapse. The collapse turns the stars into compact objects such as neutron stars and black holes with the ejection of cosmic rays and heavy…