The black hole mass spectrum from single and binary stars

by Mario Spera (Marie Curie Global Fellow, Northwestern University)

Thursday 10 Jan 2019, 16:00 → 17:00 Europe/Rome

Aula Conversi (Dip. di Fisica - Edificio G. Marconi)

Since the first observation of the gravitational-wave signal from two BHs with mass larger than 25 Msun (GW150914) by the LIGO interferometers, ten additional BH mergers were observed, and six of them have BHs with mass larger than 30 Msun. The models that predict the formation and evolution of binary BHs (BBHs) are still uncertain. In this talk, I will present the BH mass spectrum and the statistics of BBHs obtained with the SEVN code. SEVN is our new population synthesis code that implements up-to-date stellar evolution prescriptions. I will also discuss how stellar dynamics shapes the distribution of merging BBHs in star clusters and its implications on the merger rates of BBHs.