TOP

ABOUT

POSYDON : POpulation SYnthesis with Detailed binary-evolution simulatiONs

A next-generation single and binary-star population synthesis code incorporating full stellar structure and evolution modeling with the use of MESA.

POSYDON is being developed by a collaborative team of astrophysicists and computer scientists led by Principal Investigators Tassos Fragos (Université de Genève) and Vicky Kalogera (Northwestern University). The code is modular in many aspects and the user can specify initial population properties and adopt choices that determine how stellar evolution proceeds. Populations are simulated with the use of MESA evolutionary tracks for single, non-interacting, and interacting binaries organized in grids. Machine-learning methods are incorporated and applied on the grids for classification and various interpolation calculations, and the development of irregular grids guided by active learning, for computational efficiency.

POSYDON is a a publically available, community tool. In the different tabs found at the top of the page one can access the source code, find extensive documentation on installing and using POSYDON, access the grids of single- and binary-star evolutionary models via an advanced database query system, and perform small-scale population synthesis simulations with POSYDON using a user-friendly web application.

NEWS

  • [November 5th, 2024] We posted on the arXiv a paper presenting a method of binary stellar evolution track interpolation (Srivastava et al.)
  • [November 4th, 2024] We posted on the arXiv the preprint version of the POSYDON v2.0 instrument paper (Andrews et al.). This describes the second version of our code and grids of simulated binaries
  • [October 29th, 2024] We posted on the arXiv a paper utilizing POSYDON to investigate the impact of common-envelope efficiency and core-collapse supernova kicks on the black hole (BH) mass distribution of neutron star-BH (NSBH) mergers, and systems observed in the lower BH mass gap (Xing et al.)
  • [October 25th, 2024] We posted on the arXiv a paper on how the Gaia black holes could have formed without binary interactions if the Wolf-Rayet winds are a bit stronger (Kruckow et al.)
  • [October 14th, 2024] We posted on the arXiv a paper presenting a new emulation method for predicting the stellar profile outputs of MESA simulations. (Teng et al.)
  • [August 7th, 2024] On arXiv you can find the published paper demonstrating the spin down of post mass transfer (MT) systems according to several magentic braking prescriptions proposed in the literature that we implemented in MESA. We compared their ability to explain observed post-MT systems (Sun et al.)
  • [June 28th, 2024] We posted on the arXiv a paper exploring the role of Roche-lobe overflow after BH formation in the wind-fed BH-HMXB population. (Xing et al.)
  • [June 21st, 2024] On arXiv you can find the published paper exploring the proposed mechanism of Wind Roche-lobe overflow with MESA models representing low mass binaries. Our models are compared to observed rapidly rotating blue lurkers whose stellar properties can be explained as a result of this mechanism (Sun et al.)
  • [March 28th, 2024] On arXiv you can find the accepted paper sugggesting that Mixed-Morphology SN Remnants originate from the evolution of winds of the stellar RSG progenitor inside a dense ISM environment, using POSYDON single star models for the the test cases (Chiotellis et al.)
  • [March 13th, 2024] We posted on the arXiv a paper exploring the role of rotation in modeling Be X-ray Binaries (Rocha et al.)
  • [February 19th, 2024] On arXiv de Wit and collaborators have posted a paper investigating mass loss of evolved massive stars (mainly RSGs) in low metallicity environments, comparing with POSYDON stellar tracks
  • [September 18th, 2023] We posted on the arXiv a paper about neutron star-black hole mergers at solar metallicity (Xing et al.)
  • [February 6th, 2023] We have published the POSYDON v1.0 instrument paper (Fragos et al. 2023) in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement! This describes the first version of our code and grids of simulated binaries. The code is distributed via anaconda.
  • [December 21st, 2022] We posted on the arXiv a paper about the formation of 30 solar mass black hole mergers at solar metallicity (Bavera et al.)
  • [November 7th, 2022] We posted on the arXiv a paper about the natal kick of the black hole in the X-ray binary MAXI J1305-704 (Kimball et al.)
  • [September 16th, 2022] We posted on the arXiv a paper about the lower mass gap with low mass X-ray binary population synthesis (Siegel et al.)
  • [September 14th, 2022] We posted on the arXiv a paper about the signatures of different physical processes using detailed binary evolution calculations (Misra et al.)
  • [April 1st, 2022] We posted on the arXiv a paper about a new active-learning algorithm that can efficiently create the grids of binary simulations used by POSYDON as an input (Rocha et al.)
  • [February 15th, 2022] We posted on the arXiv the preprint version of the POSYDON v1.0 instrument paper (Fragos et al.). This describes the first version of our code and grids of simulated binaries
  • [November 4th, 2021] We published on ACM SIGSPATIAL'2021 a new demo paper about a prototype system for coupling similarity and diversity for clustering astrophysics multivariate datasets (Teng et al.)
  • [August 23rd, 2021] We published on SSTD'2021 a new demo paper about a system for context aware clustering of stellar evolution (Teng et al.)
  • [July 1st, 2021] We posted on the arXiv a new paper about the probing the progenitors of spinning binary black-hole mergers with long gamma-ray bursts (Bavera et al.)
  • [June 10th, 2021] We posted on the arXiv a new paper about the explodability of single massive star progenitors of stripped-envelope supernovae (Zapartas et al.)
  • [December 3rd, 2020] We posted on the arXiv a new paper about the role of core-collapse physics in the observability of black-hole neutron-star mergers as multi-messenger sources (Román-Garza et al.)
  • [October 30th, 2020] We posted on the arXiv a new paper about the impact of mass-transfer physics on the observable properties of field binary black hole populations (Bavera et al.)

FUNDING