What we can learn from multi-band observations of black hole binaries
Abstract
The LIGO/Virgo gravitational-wave (GW) interferometers have to-date detected ten merging black hole (BH) binaries, some with masses considerably larger than had been anticipated. Stellar-mass BH binaries at the high end of the observed mass range (with "chirp mass" M ≳ 25 M_⊙) should be detectable by a space-based GW observatory years before those binaries become visible to ground-based GW detectors. This white paper discusses some of the synergies that result when the same binaries are observed by instruments in space and on the ground. We consider intermediate-mass black hole binaries (with total mass M ∼ 10²−10⁴ M_⊙) as well as stellar-mass black hole binaries. We illustrate how combining space-based and ground-based data sets can break degeneracies and thereby improve our understanding of the binary's physical parameters. While early work focused on how space-based observatories can forecast precisely when some mergers will be observed on the ground, the reverse is also important: ground-based detections will allow us to "dig deeper" into archived, space-based data to confidently identify black hole inspirals whose signal-to-noise ratios were originally sub-threshold, increasing the number of binaries observed in both bands by a factor of ∼4−7.
Additional Information
White Paper submitted to Astro2020 (2020 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics).Attached Files
Submitted - 1903.04069.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 100328
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20191217-105333186
- Created
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2019-12-17Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2023-06-02Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- TAPIR
- Series Name
- Astro2020 Science White Paper