Expectations for extreme-mass-ratio bursts from the galactic centre

Berry, C. P. L. and Gair, J.R. (2013) Expectations for extreme-mass-ratio bursts from the galactic centre. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 435(4), pp. 3521-3540. (doi: 10.1093/mnras/stt1543)

Abstract

When a compact object on a highly eccentric orbit about a much more massive body passes through periapsis, it emits a short gravitational wave signal known as an extreme-mass-ratio burst (EMRB). We consider stellar mass objects orbiting the massive black hole (MBH) found in the Galactic Centre (GC). EMRBs provide a novel means of extracting information about the MBH; an EMRB from the Galactic MBH could be highly informative regarding the MBH's mass and spin if the orbital periapsis is small enough. However, to be a useful astronomical tool, EMRBs must be both informative and sufficiently common to be detectable with a space-based interferometer. We construct a simple model to predict the event rate for Galactic EMRBs. We estimate that there could be on average ∼2 bursts in a two-year mission lifetime for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. Stellar mass black holes dominate the event rate. Creating a sample of 100 mission realizations, we calculate what we could learn about the MBH. On average, we expect to be able to determine the MBH mass to ∼1 per cent and the spin to ∼0.1 using EMRBs.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Berry, Dr Christopher
• Authors: Berry, C. P. L., and Gair, J.R.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• ISSN: 0035-8711
• ISSN (Online): 1365-2966
• Published Online: 12 September 2013
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2013 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 435(4): 3521-3540
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License