Rapid stellar and binary population synthesis with COMPAS

TL;DR

COMPAS is a publicly available, rapid binary population synthesis code designed to simulate stellar binary populations for comparison with observational data, especially gravitational-wave detections of merging compact objects.

Contribution

This paper introduces COMPAS, a flexible and publicly accessible tool for rapid binary population synthesis, detailing its methodology and implementation.

Findings

COMPAS enables efficient generation of stellar binary populations.

It facilitates comparison with observational data such as gravitational-wave detections.

The code is designed to be adaptable as models evolve.

Abstract

Compact Object Mergers: Population Astrophysics and Statistics (COMPAS; https://compas.science) is a public rapid binary population synthesis code. COMPAS generates populations of isolated stellar binaries under a set of parametrized assumptions in order to allow comparisons against observational data sets, such as those coming from gravitational-wave observations of merging compact remnants. It includes a number of tools for population processing in addition to the core binary evolution components. COMPAS is publicly available via the github repository https://github.com/TeamCOMPAS/COMPAS/, and is designed to allow for flexible modifications as evolutionary models improve. This paper describes the methodology and implementation of COMPAS. It is a living document which will be updated as new features are added to COMPAS; the current document describes COMPAS v02.21.00.