TAPIR Seminar

The time span between the formation of a binary neutron star (BNS) and its coalescence follows a probability density function called delay time distribution (DTD).  Although it is assumed to follow a power-law distribution, different set of observations suggest that BNS DTD has a complex form. I will show how the host galaxies of the gravitational wave (GW) events can shed light on the form of the DTD through both galaxies' scaling relations, and their detailed star formation histories.  I also discuss the ability of the current and third-generation (3G) gravitational wave (GW) detectors to determine the BNS DTD if it follows a power-law distribution with a slope Γ and a minimum merger time t _min.  I show that it is only with the 3G detectors that we would be able to confidently constrain the parameters of the DTD in its simplest form.  This long-term approach to determining the DTD through a direct mapping of the BNS merger redshift distribution will be supplemented by more near-term studies of the DTD through the properties of BNS merger host galaxies at z ≈ 0.