We investigate the prospects of detecting gravitational waves from coalescing massive black hole binaries in the Universe with the TianQin observatory, a space-based gravitational wave interferometer proposed to be launched in the 2030s. To frame the scientific scope of the mission, in this paper, we carry out a preliminary estimation of the signal-to-noise ratio, detection rate, and parameter estimation precision of massive black hole binaries detectable by TianQin. In order to make our results as robust as possible, we consider several models of the growth history of massive black holes, exploring the effect of some key astrophysical prescriptions as well as the impact of the employed computational methods. In the most optimistic model, TianQin can detect as many as approximately 60 mergers per year. If TianQin detects a merger at redshift of 15, it will be capable of estimating its luminosity distance to within an accuracy of 10%; for a nearby event at redshift approximately 2, TianQin can issue early warnings 24 hours before coalescence, with a timing accuracy of around three hours and a sky localization ability of approximately 80 deg2, thus enabling multimessenger observations.

Wang, H., Jiang, Z., Sesana, A., Barausse, E., Huang, S., Wang, Y., et al. (2019). Science with the TianQin observatory: Preliminary results on massive black hole binaries. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 100(4) [10.1103/PhysRevD.100.043003].

Science with the TianQin observatory: Preliminary results on massive black hole binaries

Sesana A.;
2019

Abstract

We investigate the prospects of detecting gravitational waves from coalescing massive black hole binaries in the Universe with the TianQin observatory, a space-based gravitational wave interferometer proposed to be launched in the 2030s. To frame the scientific scope of the mission, in this paper, we carry out a preliminary estimation of the signal-to-noise ratio, detection rate, and parameter estimation precision of massive black hole binaries detectable by TianQin. In order to make our results as robust as possible, we consider several models of the growth history of massive black holes, exploring the effect of some key astrophysical prescriptions as well as the impact of the employed computational methods. In the most optimistic model, TianQin can detect as many as approximately 60 mergers per year. If TianQin detects a merger at redshift of 15, it will be capable of estimating its luminosity distance to within an accuracy of 10%; for a nearby event at redshift approximately 2, TianQin can issue early warnings 24 hours before coalescence, with a timing accuracy of around three hours and a sky localization ability of approximately 80 deg2, thus enabling multimessenger observations.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena; Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics; Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies; General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
English
2019
100
4
043003
none
Wang, H., Jiang, Z., Sesana, A., Barausse, E., Huang, S., Wang, Y., et al. (2019). Science with the TianQin observatory: Preliminary results on massive black hole binaries. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 100(4) [10.1103/PhysRevD.100.043003].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/290615
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