The Locations of Features in the Mass Distribution of Merging Binary Black Holes Are Robust against Uncertainties in the Metallicity-dependent Cosmic Star Formation History
The Locations of Features in the Mass Distribution of Merging Binary Black Holes Are Robust against Uncertainties in the Metallicity-dependent Cosmic Star Formation History
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DOI：
10.3847/1538-4357/acbf51
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发表时间：
2022-09
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影响因子：
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通讯作者：
L. V. van Son;S. D. de Mink;M. Chruslinska;C. Conroy;R. Pakmor;L. Hernquist
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文献类型：
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作者：
L. V. van Son;S. D. de Mink;M. Chruslinska;C. Conroy;R. Pakmor;L. Hernquist
新的观测设施正在探测天体物理瞬变，例如恒星爆炸和红移不断增加的引力波源，同时也揭示了源属性分布的新特征。为了解释这些观察结果，我们需要将它们与恒星种群模型的预测进行比较。此类模型需要依赖金属丰度的宇宙恒星形成历史 ( (Z,z) ) 作为输入。该函数的形状和演变仍然存在很大的不确定性。在这项工作中，我们提出了一个简单的 (Z,z) 分析函数。这个函数的变化很容易解释，因为参数以直观的方式链接到它的形状。我们将我们的分析函数拟合到宇宙学 TNG100 模拟的恒星形成气体中，发现它能够很好地捕捉主要行为。作为一个示例应用，我们研究了 (Z,z) 参数的系统变化对局部合并双黑洞的预测质量分布的影响。我们的主要发现是（i）特征的位置对于金属丰度相关的宇宙恒星形成历史的变化非常稳健，并且（ii）低质量端受这些变化的影响最小。这是有希望的，因为它增加了我们约束控制这些物体形成的物理原理的机会（https://github.com/LiekeVanSon/SFRD_fit/tree/7348a1ad0d2ed6b78c70d5100fb3cd2515493f02/）。
New observational facilities are probing astrophysical transients such as stellar explosions and gravitational-wave sources at ever-increasing redshifts, while also revealing new features in source property distributions. To interpret these observations, we need to compare them to predictions from stellar population models. Such models require the metallicity-dependent cosmic star formation history ( (Z,z) ) as an input. Large uncertainties remain in the shape and evolution of this function. In this work, we propose a simple analytical function for (Z,z) . Variations of this function can be easily interpreted because the parameters link to its shape in an intuitive way. We fit our analytical function to the star-forming gas of the cosmological TNG100 simulation and find that it is able to capture the main behavior well. As an example application, we investigate the effect of systematic variations in the (Z,z) parameters on the predicted mass distribution of locally merging binary black holes. Our main findings are that (i) the locations of features are remarkably robust against variations in the metallicity-dependent cosmic star formation history, and (ii) the low-mass end is least affected by these variations. This is promising as it increases our chances of constraining the physics that govern the formation of these objects (https://github.com/LiekeVanSon/SFRD_fit/tree/7348a1ad0d2ed6b78c70d5100fb3cd2515493f02/).