On the gravitational wave background from black hole binaries after the first LIGO detections

Journal Article · Thu Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 2017 · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2017/06/037· OSTI ID:22676148

Cholis, Ilias ^[1]

---

1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21218 (United States)

The detection of gravitational waves from the merger of binary black holes by the LIGO Collaboration has opened a new window to astrophysics. With the sensitivities of ground based detectors in the coming years, we will principally detect local binary black hole mergers. The integrated merger rate can instead be probed by the gravitational-wave background, the incoherent superposition of the released energy in gravitational waves during binary-black-hole coalescence. Through that, the properties of the binary black holes can be studied. In this work we show that by measuring the energy density Ω{sub GW} (in units of the cosmic critical density) of the gravitational-wave background, we can search for the rare ∼ 100 M {sub ⊙} massive black holes formed in the Universe. In addition, we can answer how often the least massive BHs of mass ≳ 3 M {sub ⊙} form. Finally, if there are multiple channels for the formation of binary black holes and if any of them predicts a narrow mass range for the black holes, then the total Ω{sub GW} spectrum may have features that with the future Einstein Telescope can be detected.

• OSTI ID: 22676148
• Journal Information: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics Journal Issue: 06 Vol. 2017; ISSN 1475-7516
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ASTROPHYSICS
BLACK HOLES
COALESCENCE
DENSITY
DETECTION
ENERGY DENSITY
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
INTERFEROMETRY
MASS
SENSITIVITY
SPECTRA
TELESCOPES
UNIVERSE