I looked at a total of 33 star clusters which were simulated using the Cluster Monte Carlo (CMC) code, a Hénon-type Monte Carlo code that computes the long-term evolution of stellar clusters (Kremer et al. 2020b). These simulations all had the following initial conditions:
By contrast, these initial conditions were varied among the models:
The canonical value of α3 is 2.3 so the values of α3 used for these models were chosen around that value (Kroupa 2001).
From these simulations, I determined the rate of BBH mergers and the masses of BHs that collide in BBH mergers
for each α3 value. These variables from the simulation data were compared to data from the Laser
Interferometer
Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), which detects BBH mergers by observing gravitational waves. The LIGO data used in this analysis includes the 01, 02, and 03 observations (LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA
2020).
As in Fragione and Banerjee 2021, I applied a detectability weight to each simulated BBH merger based on that
merger’s signal-to-noise ratio.
By comparing the rates and component masses obtained from different α3 values to rates and component masses in
LIGO data, I aim to better constrain the IMF in stellar clusters.