Stellar-mass compact objects in comological simulations

PELLIZZA, L.J.

Rio de Janeiro

Congreso; VI International Workshop on Astronomy and Relativistic Astrophysics; 2013

CNPq

Stellar-mass compact objects are the engines driving the emission of different kind of sources, such as gamma-ray bursts or X-ray binaries. Recent works claim that the emission of these sources are a major component of the energy feedback of the stellar populations into the interstellar and intergalactic media. Hence, it should play an important role in different processes, such as the formation of galaxies or the ionization and thermal history of the Universe. The importance of this feedback component depends on the rate of production of stellar-mass compact objects, and the luminosity of the sources powered by them. Recent observational and theoretical works claim that both of these depend on the chemical enrichment of the stellar populations from which compact objects form. Using numerical simulations of galaxy formation in a cosmological framework, our group developed models to describe the populations of stellar-mass compact objects at different stages of the evolution of the Universe, and assess their influence on the surrounding medium. In this talk I will describe these models, and present our preliminary results.