Every neutron star merger that LIGO detects, every X-ray binary blazing across the galaxy, every compact object collision that ripples spacetime—they all began as ordinary binary star systems billions of years ago. Understanding how these cosmic partnerships evolve from main sequence stars to exotic remnants is one of astronomy’s grand challenges, requiring us to model complex physics across vast timescales.
COMPAS (Compact Object Mergers: Population Astrophysics & Statistics) tackles this challenge head-on with rapid binary population synthesis. The code draws initial stellar properties from realistic distributions, then fast-forwards through stellar evolution—mass transfer, common envelope phases, supernova explosions, and finally the dance of compact remnants. Built with flexibility at its core, COMPAS lets researchers easily adjust evolution prescriptions and model parameters, making it a versatile laboratory for testing theoretical predictions against observations.
The astronomical community has embraced COMPAS for groundbreaking research across multiple domains: inferring merger rates from gravitational wave detections, understanding the population of Galactic neutron stars, modeling X-ray binary systems, and explaining luminous red novae. With 84 stars on GitHub and active development by Team COMPAS, this open-source tool is democratizing access to sophisticated stellar evolution modeling, enabling researchers worldwide to explore the cosmic lifecycle that connects stellar nurseries to the most energetic events in the universe.
⭐ Stars: 84
💻 Language: Jupyter Notebook
🔗 Repository: TeamCOMPAS/COMPAS