HEAVY, BUT NOT METAL: Could Metal-Free Stars be the Source of Massive Black Hole Mergers?
In today’s paper, the authors test the theory that the earliest, metal-poorest stars are the primary source of binary black hole mergers.
In today’s paper, the authors test the theory that the earliest, metal-poorest stars are the primary source of binary black hole mergers.
Massive stars live fast and die young, making metals along the way.
A lot of physics happens below the resolution limit of galaxy simulations that must be represented with “subgrid” models. Today’s paper shows the importance of including a subgrid model for the mixing of metals in galaxy simulations.
“No [galaxy] is an island entire of itself; every [galaxy] / is a piece of the [cosmic web], a part of the main” – apologies to John Donne for butchering his poem.
Astronomers have found hydrogen contamination in the atmospheres of helium white dwarfs – but where in the world/universe is it coming from?! The authors of today’s astrobite perform statistical tests to see if the source of this pesky hydrogen could be water-bearing rocky bodies out in space.
Gamma-ray bursts are the most energetic explosions in the Universe. Today, we discuss how to use one GRB as a beacon to study the properties of a high redshift galaxy, the composition of the gas in the intergalactic medium at high redshift and the formation of dust in the Universe.