Speaker
Description
The joint detection of gravitational waves (GW170817) by LIGO and Virgo, together with the short gamma-ray burst (sGRBs) GRB 170817A observed by Fermi and INTEGRAL, has confirmed that at least some sGRBs originate
from the merger of two neutron stars (NS-NS). Despite this breakthrough, the evolutionary pathways that lead to such
mergers remain uncertain.
In this project, we study the likelihood that a binary system which undergoes a ULX phase will ultimately produce an sGRB. To do this, we use the rapid population synthesis code COSMIC to simulate large ensembles of massive binary systems across a range of metallicities and generate our ULX population. We use a detailed binary evolution code POSYDON to complement these statistical results to model selected ULX systems with more realistic mass transfer physics and common-envelope evolution. Our study aims to quantify the fraction of ULX systems that lead to sGRB-producing compact mergers and to characterize their delay time distributions and likely host galaxy properties.
| Apply for student award at which level: | None |
|---|---|
| Consent on use of personal information: Abstract Submission | Yes, I ACCEPT |
