Stellar triples with chemically homogeneously evolving inner binaries

Understand

Observations suggest that massive stellar triples are common.

• However, their evolution is not yet fully understood.
• We investigate the evolution of hierarchical triples in which the stars of the inner binary experience chemically homogeneous evolution (CHE), particularly to understand the role of the tertiary star in the formation of gravitational-wave (GW) sources.
• We use the triple-star rapid population synthesis code TRES to determine the evolution of these systems at two representative metallicities: $Z = 0.005$ and $Z = 0.0005$.