Colloquium by Katie Breivik, Carnegie Mellon
Binary population synthesis tools have been used for decades to show how binary star interactions are imprinted as observable features in stellar remnant populations. Until the last decade, these tools have existed almost exclusively to make predictions for future astronomical and gravitational-wave surveys. With the direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015 and the release of public survey data from telescopes like Gaia, it has become clear that direct comparisons between survey data and binary population synthesis simulations are nontrivial. In this talk, I will discuss software tools and techniques that I and collaborators have been developing to aid comparisons between binary population synthesis simulations and data. I will first discuss efforts to infer binary interaction physics through detailed comparisons to individual sources containing black holes. I will then discuss how binary interaction assumptions affect the properties of core collapse supernovae and the remnants they leave behind.
Cookies will be available, starting at 3:45.
Host: Max Isi