The metallicity dependence and evolutionary times of merging binary black holes: Combined constraints from individual gravitational-wave detections and the stochastic background

Understand

The advent of gravitational-wave astronomy is now allowing for the study of compact binary merger demographics throughout the Universe.

• This information can be leveraged as tools for understanding massive stars, their environments, and their evolution.
• One active question is the nature of compact binary formation: the environmental and chemical conditions required for black hole birth and the time delays experienced by binaries before they merge.
• Gravitational-wave events detected today, however, primarily occur at low or moderate redshifts due to current interferometer sensitivity, therefore limiting our ability to probe the high redshift behavior of these quantities.