Open AccessExpected masses of merging compact object binaries observed in gravitational waves
Author(s) -
Bulik T.,
GondekRosinska D.,
Belczynski K.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.08028.x
Subject(s) - physics , observability , neutron star , compact star , gravitational wave , mass distribution , astrophysics , binary number , population , black hole (networking) , mass ratio , x ray binary , distribution (mathematics) , low mass , galaxy , mathematical analysis , stars , computer network , routing protocol , demography , mathematics , arithmetic , routing (electronic design automation) , sociology , computer science , link state routing protocol
We use the well‐tested StarTrack binary population synthesis code to examine the properties of the population of compact object binaries. We calculate the distribution of masses and mass ratios, taking into account weights introduced by observability in gravitational waves during inspiral. We find that in the observability‐weighted distribution of double neutron star binaries there are two peaks: one for nearly equal‐mass systems, and one for systems consisting of a low‐ and a high‐mass neutron star, q = 0.6–0.7 . The observability‐weighted distribution of black hole neutron star binaries is concentrated on systems with mass ratio q = 0.3–0.5 , while for double black hole binaries the observability‐weighted distribution is dominated by massive, nearly equal‐mass binaries with q > 0.7 .