Speaker
Description
We present a study using the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis code (BPASS) that predicts the Galactic population of binaries that contain a black hole or neutron star. By incorporating the stellar evolution models from the BPASS suite with a Milky Way analogue galaxy from the Feedback in Realistic Environment (FIRE) simulation suite, we can generate a theoretical population of quiescent compact remnant binaries as well as x-ray binaries within our Galaxy. We split the population into quiescent systems before and after their binary interactions, to investigate how such systems evolve and to further understand their role as supernovae remnants. Furthermore, we explore the code’s output of x-ray binaries with a focus on how they can be studied as transients for systems that appear to be quiescent. We predict the distribution of masses and orbital periods for these systems and compare these to the current observed distributions within our Galaxy, including the recently discovered Gaia Black Hole systems. The remnant masses produced by the code for the pre-interaction systems serve to give us the most accurate measurement of the masses for compact remnants that form from supernovae. We find that the agreement in general is reasonable but there are strong indications that we need to include new physical processes within BPASS to be able to accurately reproduce the observed compact remnant distributions. Additionally, we present theoretical yields of these quiescent systems from Gaia DR5 a well as the upcoming Roman Space Telescope."
