Most recently, the discovery of gravitational waves by the LIGO and Virgo observatories indicated that the detected signals originate from the mergers of compact binary systems consisting of neutron stars and/or black holes. Meanwhile, the observed events are connected with black holes with masses up to about 100 Solar masses. How are such systems formed is still not known. Stellar evolution numerical calculations remain the basic tool to model and explain such phenomena. For MOBY project, we are using the ‘state-of- the-art’ MESA (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics) numerical code to explain the progenitors of gravitational wave sources related to the most massive double black holes. The MESA numerical code will be used to calculate about 1000 detailed evolutionary models of Case A binary systems in the range of masses between 100 M⊙ and 250 M⊙ in order to reproduce double black hole systems with masses above 50 M⊙. Initial parameter space of various orbital periods and metallicities will be investigated and the best initial conditions established. In addition, all models will be available to the research community via the MOBY web platform.
Members: Jelena Petrović (PI), Monika Jurković, Ana Mitrašinović, Bojan Arbutina, Gojko Đurašević
Project website
