POSYDON: a general-purpose population synthesis code with detailed binary-evolution simulations

Fragos, T. et al. (2023) POSYDON: a general-purpose population synthesis code with detailed binary-evolution simulations. Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 264(2), 45. (doi: 10.3847/1538-4365/ac90c1)

Abstract

Most massive stars are members of a binary or a higher-order stellar system, where the presence of a binary companion can decisively alter their evolution via binary interactions. Interacting binaries are also important astrophysical laboratories for the study of compact objects. Binary population synthesis studies have been used extensively over the last two decades to interpret observations of compact-object binaries and to decipher the physical processes that lead to their formation. Here, we present POSYDON, a novel, publicly available, binary population synthesis code that incorporates full stellar structure and binary-evolution modeling, using the MESA code, throughout the whole evolution of the binaries. The use of POSYDON enables the self-consistent treatment of physical processes in stellar and binary evolution, including: realistic mass-transfer calculations and assessment of stability, internal angular-momentum transport and tides, stellar core sizes, mass-transfer rates, and orbital periods. This paper describes the detailed methodology and implementation of POSYDON, including the assumed physics of stellar and binary evolution, the extensive grids of detailed single- and binary-star models, the postprocessing, classification, and interpolation methods we developed for use with the grids, and the treatment of evolutionary phases that are not based on precalculated grids. The first version of POSYDON targets binaries with massive primary stars (potential progenitors of neutron stars or black holes) at solar metallicity.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The POSYDON project is supported primarily by two sources: a Swiss National Science Foundation Professorship grant (PI Fragos, project number PP00P2176868) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (PI Kalogera, grant award GBMF8477). The collaboration was also supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie RISE action, grant agreements No 691164 (ASTROSTAT) and No 873089 (ASTROSTAT-II). Individual team members were supported by additional sources: JJA acknowledges funding from Northwestern University through a CIERA Post-doctoral Fellowship, CPLB acknowledges support by the CIERA Board of Visitors Research Professorship, and SC through CIERA as a Computational Specialist. VK was partially supported through a CIFAR Senior Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship. KK and EZ were partially supported by the Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students for the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship (ESKAS No. 2021.0277 and ESKAS No. 2019.0091, respectively). YQ acknowledges funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant P2GEP2 188242). DM and KR thank the LSSTC Data Science Fellowship Program, which is funded by LSSTCorporation, NSF Cybertraining Grant No. 1829740, the Brinson Foundation, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; their participation in the program has benefited this work. ZX was supported by the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC). MZ was supported as an IDEAS Fellow, through the NRT IDEAS program, a research traineeship program supported by the National Science Foundation (PI Kalogera, award DGE-1450006).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Berry, Dr Christopher
• Authors: Fragos, T., Andrews, J. J., Bavera, S. S., Berry, C. P.L., Coughlin, S., Dotter, A., Giri, P., Kalogera, V., Katsaggelos, A., Kovlakas, K., Lalvani, S., Misra, D., Srivastava, P. M., Qin, Y., Rocha, K. A., Roman-Garza, J., Serra, J. G., Stahle, P., Sun, M., Teng, X., Trajcevski, G., Tran, N. H., Xing, Z., Zapartas, E., and Zevin, M.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Research Centre: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy > Institute for Gravitational Research
• Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• ISSN: 0067-0049
• ISSN (Online): 1538-4365
• Published Online: 06 February 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 264(2):45
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence

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