Space missions to detect the cosmic gravitational-wave background

Cornish, N.; Larson, Shane L.

doi:10.1088/0264-9381/18/17/308

Cited by 87 publications

(116 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…We compare the limits from ground-based interferometers from the final science run of Initial LIGO-Virgo, the co-located detectors at Hanford (H1-H2), Advanced LIGO (aLIGO) O1, and the projected design sensitivity of the advanced detector network assuming two years of coincident data, with constraints from other measurements: CMB measurements at low multipole moments [60], indirect limits from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis [61,62], pulsar timing [62], and from the ringing of Earth's normal modes [63]. We also show projected limits from a space-based detector such as LISA [59,64,65], following the assumptions of [59]. We extend the BNS and BBH distributions using an f 2/3 power-law down to low frequencies, with a low-frequency cut-off imposed where the inspiral time-scale is of order the Hubble scale.…”

Section: Equationmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…For the sake of comparison, the measured O1 PI curve at α = 0 is 1.6 times larger than the projected PI curve at α = 0 using the projections in [58] and 29.85 days of live time, which is fairly good agreement between predicted and achieved sensitivity. Finally, in red we present the projected sensitivity of a space-based detector with similar sensitivity to LISA, using the PI curve presented in [59] computed using the projections in [64,65].…”

Section: Equationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Upper Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Advanced LIGO’s First Observing Run

Abbott¹,

Abbott²,

Abbott³

et al. 2017

Phys. Rev. Lett.

249

268

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A wide variety of astrophysical and cosmological sources are expected to contribute to a stochastic gravitational-wave background. Following the observations of GW150914 and GW151226, the rate and mass of coalescing binary black holes appear to be greater than many previous expectations. As a result, the stochastic background from unresolved compact binary coalescences is expected to be particularly loud. We perform a search for the isotropic stochastic gravitational-wave background using data from Advanced LIGO's first observing run. The data display no evidence of a stochastic gravitational-wave signal. We constrain the dimensionless energy density of gravitational waves to be Ω0 < 1.7 × 10 −7 with 95% confidence, assuming a flat energy density spectrum in the most sensitive part of the LIGO band (20 − 86 Hz). This is a factor of ∼33 times more sensitive than previous measurements. We also constrain arbitrary power-law spectra. Finally, we investigate the implications of this search for the background of binary black holes using an astrophysical model for the background. The recent detections of binary black hole (BBH) coalescences by Advanced LIGO [32,33] suggest that the Universe may be rich with coalescing BBHs. While events like GW150914 and GW151226 are loud enough to be clearly detected, we expect there to be many more events that are too far away to be individually resolved and that contribute to the background. Since this BBH population originates from sources that are too distant to be individually detected, the stochastic search probes a distinct population of binaries compared to nearby sources [34]. The background from these binaries provides complementary information to individually resolved binary coalescences [35].In this Letter, we report on the search for an isotropic background using data from Advanced LIGO's first observing run O1. We search for the background by crosscorrelating data streams from the two separate LIGO detectors and looking for a coherent signal. We find no evidence for the background and place the best upper limits to date on the energy density of the background in the LIGO frequency band. We also update the impli-

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Section: Equationmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Equationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Upper Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Advanced LIGO’s First Observing Run

Abbott¹,

Abbott²,

Abbott³

et al. 2017

Phys. Rev. Lett.

249

268

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show abstract

“…Most of our review follows from the comprehensive discussions in Misner et al (1973), Thorne (1980Thorne ( , 1987, Flanagan & Hughes (1998a, 1998b, and Cornish & Larson (2001). We refer the reader to these resources for details.…”

Section: Gravity Waves From Individual Mergersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One promising avenue for shedding light on the SBH formation mystery is the possible detection of the gravitational waves emitted from mergers during their hierarchical assembly ( Thorne & Braginsky 1976). A space-based, interferometric gravity wave detector, such as the proposed LISA interferometer, should be capable of detecting such merger events (Thorne 1995(Thorne , 1996Flanagan & Hughes 1998a, 1998bCornish & Larson 2001). For such an instrument, mergers of BHs with masses M BH k 10 3 M at redshifts from z $ 0-30 will be observable as strain perturbations, providing a new test of the viability of SBH growth through mergers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing Models of Supermassive Black Hole Seed Formation through Gravity Waves

Koushiappas

Zentner

2006

ApJ

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We study the gravitational wave background produced from the formation and assembly of supermassive black holes within the cosmological paradigm of hierarchical structure formation. In particular, we focus on a supermassive black hole formation scenario in which the present-day population of supermassive black holes is built from highmass seed black holes, and we compute the concomitant spectrum of gravitational radiation produced by mergers of the seed black holes. We find that this scenario predicts a large gravitational wave background that should be resolved into individual sources with space interferometers, such as the proposed Laser Interferometric Space Antenna (LISA). The number of inspiral, merger, and ringdown events above a signal-to-noise ratio of 5 that results from massive black hole seeds is on the order of 10 3 . This prediction is robust and insensitive to several of the details of the model. We conclude that an interferometer such as LISA will be able to effectively rule out or confirm a class of models in which supermassive black holes grow from high-mass seed black holes and may be able to place strong limits on the role of mergers as a channel for supermassive black hole growth. Supermassive black hole seeds likely form in the earliest protogalactic structures at high redshift, and the masses of supermassive black holes are known to be strongly correlated with the potentials of the spheroids in which they reside. Therefore, these results imply that space interferometers can be used as a powerful probe of the physics of galaxy formation and protogalaxy formation at very high redshift.

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“…Incorrect expressions for the overlap reduction function have appeared in the recent literature [17,18] and, with them, incorrect conclusions regarding the sensitivity of proposed gravitational wave detectors to stochastic gravitational waves. These errors have lead to significantly flawed appraisals of the high-frequency sensitivity of the Big Bang Observer to a stochastic gravitational wave background, including spurious nulls in the frequency-dependent detector response and a reduced estimate of the signal-to-noise ratio as a function of the gravitational-wave power.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting a stochastic gravitational-wave background: The overlap reduction function

Finn

Larson

Romano³

2009

Phys. Rev. D

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Detection of a gravitational-wave stochastic background via ground or space-based gravitationalwave detectors requires the cross-correlation of the response of two or more independent detectors. The cross-correlation involves a frequency-dependent factor -the so-called overlap reduction function or Hellings-Downs curve-that depends on the relative geometry of each detector pair: i.e., the detector separations and the relative orientation of their antenna patterns (beams). An incorrect formulation of this geometrical factor has appeared in the literature, leading to incorrect conclusions regarding the sensitivity of proposed detectors to a stochastic gravitational-wave background. To rectify these errors and as a reference for future work we provide here a complete, first-principles derivation of the overlap reduction function and assess the nature of the errors associated with the use of the incorrect expression that has appeared in the literature. We describe the behavior of the overlap reduction function in different limiting regimes, and show how the difference between the correct and incorrect expressions can be understood physically.

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Space missions to detect the cosmic gravitational-wave background

Cited by 87 publications

References 26 publications

Upper Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Advanced LIGO’s First Observing Run

Upper Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Advanced LIGO’s First Observing Run

Testing Models of Supermassive Black Hole Seed Formation through Gravity Waves

Detecting a stochastic gravitational-wave background: The overlap reduction function

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