The missing link in gravitational-wave astronomy

Sedda, M. A. et al. (2021) The missing link in gravitational-wave astronomy. Experimental Astronomy, 51(3), pp. 1427-1440. (doi: 10.1007/s10686-021-09713-z)

Abstract

Since 2015 the gravitational-wave observations of LIGO and Virgo have transformed our understanding of compact-object binaries. In the years to come, ground-based gravitational-wave observatories such as LIGO, Virgo, and their successors will increase in sensitivity, discovering thousands of stellar-mass binaries. In the 2030s, the space-based LISA will provide gravitational-wave observations of massive black holes binaries. Between the ∼10–103 Hz band of ground-based observatories and the ∼10−4–10− 1 Hz band of LISA lies the uncharted decihertz gravitational-wave band. We propose a Decihertz Observatory to study this frequency range, and to complement observations made by other detectors. Decihertz observatories are well suited to observation of intermediate-mass (∼102–104M⊙) black holes; they will be able to detect stellar-mass binaries days to years before they merge, providing early warning of nearby binary neutron star mergers and measurements of the eccentricity of binary black holes, and they will enable new tests of general relativity and the Standard Model of particle physics. Here we summarise how a Decihertz Observatory could provide unique insights into how black holes form and evolve across cosmic time, improve prospects for both multimessenger astronomy and multiband gravitational-wave astronomy, and enable new probes of gravity, particle physics and cosmology.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: MAS acknowledges financial support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) – Project-ID 138713538 – SFB 881 (“The Milky Way System”). CPLB is supported by the CIERA Board of Visitors Research Professorship. PAS acknowledges support from the Ram´on y Cajal Programme of the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness of Spain, as well as the COST Action GWverse CA16104. This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFA0400702) and the National Science Foundation of China (11721303). TB is supported by The Royal Society (grant URF\R1\180009). EB is supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) Grants No. PHY-1912550 and AST-1841358, NASA ATP Grants No. 17-ATP17-0225 and 19-ATP19-0051, NSF-XSEDE Grant No. PHY-090003, and by the Amaldi Research Center, funded by the MIUR program “Dipartimento di Eccellenza” (CUP: B81I18001170001). This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 690904. DD acknowledges financial support via the Emmy Noether Research Group funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under grant no. DO 1771/1-1 and the Eliteprogramme for Postdocs funded by the Baden-Wurttemberg Stiftung. JME is supported by NASA through the NASA Hubble Fellowship grant HST-HF2-51435.001-A awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract NAS5-26555. MLK acknowledges support from the NSF under grant DGE-0948017 and the Chateaubriand Fellowship from the Office for Science & Technology of the Embassy of France in the United States. GN is partly supported by the ROMFORSK grant Project No. 302640 ‘‘Gravitational Wave Signals From Early Universe Phase Transitions’’. IP acknowledges funding by Society in Science, The Branco Weiss Fellowship, administered by the ETH Zurich. AS is supported by the European Union’s H2020 ERC Consolidator Grant “Binary massive black hole astrophysics” (grant agreement no. 818691 – B Massive). LS was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11975027, 11991053, 11721303), the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by the China Association for Science and Technology (2018QNRC001), and the Max Planck Partner Group Program funded by the Max Planck Society. NW is supported by a Royal Society–Science Foundation Ireland University Research Fellowship (grant UF160093).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Berry, Dr Christopher
• Authors: Sedda, M. A., Berry, C. P.L., Jani, K., Amaro-Seoane, P., Auclair, P., Baird, J., Baker, T., Berti, E., Breivik, K., Caprini, C., Chen, X., Doneva, D., Ezquiaga, J. M., Saavik Ford, K. E., Katz, M. L., Kolkowitz, S., McKernan, B., Mueller, G., Nardini, G., Pikovsk, I., Rajendran, S., Sesana, A., Shao, L., Tamanini, N., Warburton, N., Witek, H., Wong, K., and Zevin, M.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Research Centre: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy > Institute for Gravitational Research
• Journal Name: Experimental Astronomy
• Publisher: Springer
• ISSN: 0922-6435
• ISSN (Online): 1572-9508
• Published Online: 29 April 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Experimental Astronomy 51(3): 1427-1440
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License