Stellar population modelling of neutron stars and black holes: spatially-resolved graveyards in MaNGA/SDSS-IV galaxies

TL;DR

This study updates stellar population models to better predict the distribution of neutron stars and black holes in galaxies, revealing how these remnants vary with galaxy properties and spatial distribution.

Contribution

Introduces new models for neutron star and black hole populations based on hydrodynamical simulations, applied to spatially-resolved galaxy data from SDSS-IV/MaNGA.

Findings

Lower neutron star counts predicted, especially with stellar rotation.

Higher black hole counts predicted, especially with stellar rotation.

Remnant distribution varies with galaxy mass, star formation history, and metallicity.

Abstract

We update our stellar population models for the time evolution of the number and mass of massive remnants - neutron stars and black holes - with a new initial mass-remnant mass relation for core collapse supernovae. The calculations are based on hydrodynamical simulations and induced explosions of a subset of previously published pre-supernovae models spanning a wide range of stellar mass, metallicity and different values for rotation velocity. The resulting stellar population models predict lower numbers of neutron stars (by up to 0.3 dex) and higher numbers of black holes (by up to 0.8 dex), especially when stellar rotation is considered. The mass fraction locked in neutron stars and black holes is lowest in high-metallicity populations, with the largest number of remnants found at about half-solar metallicity. This mirrors the amount of available gas, ranging from 35 per cent to 45 per cent. We then apply our new models to IFU spectra for ~10,000 galaxies from the SDSS-IV/MaNGA survey for which we previously published spatially-resolved star formation histories. This allows us to probe spatially-resolved graveyards in galaxies of different types. The number and radial distribution of remnants depend on a galaxy's mass, star formation history and metal content. More massive and hence more metal-rich galaxies are found to host fewer remnants. Radial gradients in the number of remnants depend on galaxy mass mostly because of the mass-dependent profiles in mass density: the gradients are flat in low-mass galaxies, and negative in high-mass galaxies, particularly in Milky Way analogues.