Binary inspiral, gravitational radiation, and cosmology

Abstract

Observations of binary inspiral in a single interferometric gravitational wave detector can be cataloged according to signal-to-noise ratio $ρ$ and chirp mass $\cal M$. The distribution of events in a catalog composed of observations with $ρ$ greater than a threshold $ρ_0$ depends on the Hubble expansion, deceleration parameter, and cosmological constant, as well as the distribution of component masses in binary systems and evolutionary effects. In this paper I find general expressions, valid in any homogeneous and isotropic cosmological model, for the distribution with $ρ$ and $\cal M$ of cataloged events; I also evaluate these distributions explicitly for relevant matter-dominated Friedmann-Robertson-Walker models and simple models of the neutron star mass distribution. In matter dominated Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmological models advanced LIGO detectors will observe binary neutron star inspiral events with $ρ>8$ from distances not exceeding approximately $2\,\text{Gpc}$, corresponding to redshifts of $0.48$ (0.26) for $h=0.8$ ($0.5$), at an estimated rate of 1 per week. As the binary system mass increases so does the distance it can be seen, up to a limit: in a matter dominated Einstein-deSitter cosmological model with $h=0.8$ ($0.5$) that limit is approximately $z=2.7$ (1.7) for binaries consisting of two $10\,\text{M}_\odot$ black holes. Cosmological tests based on catalogs of the kind discussed here depend on the distribution of cataloged events with $ρ$ and $\cal M$. The distributions found here will play a pivotal role in testing cosmological models against our own universe and in constructing templates for the detection of cosmological inspiraling binary neutron stars and black holes.