Double compact objects. II. Cosmological merger rates
- Astronomical Observatory, University of Warsaw, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warsaw (Poland)
- CCS-2, MSD409, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States)
- Enrico Fermi Institute, Department of Physics, and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677 (United States)
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, B15 2TT (United Kingdom)
- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 462 Physics Building, 1900 East Kenwood Boulevard, Milwaukee, WI 53217 (United States)
The development of advanced gravitational wave (GW) observatories, such as Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo, provides impetus to refine theoretical predictions for what these instruments might detect. In particular, with the range increasing by an order of magnitude, the search for GW sources is extending beyond the 'local' universe and out to cosmological distances. Double compact objects (neutron star-neutron star (NS-NS), black hole-neutron star (BH-NS), and black hole-black hole (BH-BH) systems) are considered to be the most promising GW sources. In addition, NS-NS and/or BH-NS systems are thought to be the progenitors of gamma-ray bursts and may also be associated with kilonovae. In this paper, we present the merger event rates of these objects as a function of cosmological redshift. We provide the results for four cases, each one investigating a different important evolution parameter of binary stars. Each case is also presented for two metallicity evolution scenarios. We find that (1) in most cases NS-NS systems dominate the merger rates in the local universe, while BH-BH mergers dominate at high redshift, (2) BH-NS mergers are less frequent than other sources per unit volume, for all time, and (3) natal kicks may alter the observable properties of populations in a significant way, allowing the underlying models of binary evolution and compact object formation to be easily distinguished. This is the second paper in a series of three. The third paper will focus on calculating the detection rates of mergers by GW telescopes.
- OSTI ID:
- 22348492
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 779, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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DOUBLE COMPACT OBJECTS. I. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE COMMON ENVELOPE ON MERGER RATES