The binary-host connection: astrophysics of gravitational wave binaries from their host galaxy properties

Understand

Gravitational waves produced from the merger of binary neutron stars (BNSs) are accompanied by electromagnetic counterparts, making it possible to identify the associated host galaxy.

• We explore how properties of the host galaxies relate to the astrophysical processes leading to the mergers.
• It is thought that the BNS merger rate within a galaxy at a given epoch depends primarily on the galaxy's star-formation history as well as the underlying merger time-delay distribution of the binary systems.
• The stellar history of a galaxy, meanwhile, depends on the cosmological evolution of the galaxy through time, and is tied to the growth of structure in the Universe.