http://arxiv.org/abs/1704.07379
Gravitational waves from binary black hole mergers provide a new probe of massive-star evolution and the formation channels of binary compact objects. By coupling the growing sample of binary black hole systems with realistic population synthesis models, we can begin to constrain the parameters of such models and glean unprecedented knowledge of the inherent physical processes that underpin binary stellar evolution. In this study, we apply a hierarchical Bayesian model on mass measurements from a synthetic gravitational-wave sample to constrain the physical prescriptions in population models and the relative fractions of systems generated from various channels. We employ population models of two canonical formation scenarios in our analysis — isolated binary evolution involving common-envelope evolution and dynamical formation within globular clusters — with model variations for different black-hole natal kick magnitude prescriptions. We show that solely with chirp mass measurements, it is possible to constrain natal kick prescriptions and the relative fraction of systems detected from each formation channel with $\mathcal{O}(100)$ of confident detections. This framework can be extended to include additional formation scenarios, model parameters, and measured properties of the compact binary.
M. Zevin, C. Pankow, C. Rodriguez, et. al.
Wed, 26 Apr 17
53/60
Comments: 11 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to ApJ