  Recent detections of gravitational waves from merging binary black holes
opened new possibilities to study the evolution of massive stars and black hole
formation. In particular, stellar evolution models may be constrained on the
basis of the differences in the predicted distribution of black hole masses and
redshifts. In this work we propose a framework that combines galaxy and stellar
evolution models and use it to predict the detection rates of merging binary
black holes for various stellar evolution models. We discuss the prospects of
constraining the shape of the time delay distribution of merging binaries using
just the observed distribution of chirp masses. Finally, we consider a generic
model of primordial black hole formation and discuss the possibility of
distinguishing it from stellar-origin black holes.
