TY - JOUR
T1 - DOUBLE COMPACT OBJECTS. III. GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE DETECTION RATES
AU - Dominik, Michal
AU - Berti, Emanuele
AU - O'Shaughnessy, Richard
AU - Mandel, Ilya
AU - Belczynski, Krzysztof
AU - Fryer, Christopher
AU - Holz, Daniel E.
AU - Bulik, Tomasz
AU - Pannarale, Francesco
PY - 2015/6/20
Y1 - 2015/6/20
N2 - The unprecedented range of second-generation gravitational-wave (GW) observatories calls for refining the predictions of potential sources and detection rates. The coalescence of double compact objects (DCOs) - i.e., neutron star-neutron star (NS-NS), black hole-neutron star (BH-NS), and black hole-black hole (BH-BH) binary systems - is the most promising source of GWs for these detectors. We compute detection rates of coalescing DCOs in second-generation GW detectors using the latest models for their cosmological evolution, and implementing inspiral-merger-ringdown gravitational waveform models in our signal-to-noise ratio calculations. We find that (1) the inclusion of the merger/ringdown portion of the signal does not significantly affect rates for NS-NS and BH-NS systems, but it boosts rates by a factor of ∼1.5 for BH-BH systems; (2) in almost all of our models BH-BH systems yield by far the largest rates, followed by NS-NS and BH-NS systems, respectively; and (3) a majority of the detectable BH-BH systems were formed in the early universe in low-metallicity environments. We make predictions for the distributions of detected binaries and discuss what the first GW detections will teach us about the astrophysics underlying binary formation and evolution.
AB - The unprecedented range of second-generation gravitational-wave (GW) observatories calls for refining the predictions of potential sources and detection rates. The coalescence of double compact objects (DCOs) - i.e., neutron star-neutron star (NS-NS), black hole-neutron star (BH-NS), and black hole-black hole (BH-BH) binary systems - is the most promising source of GWs for these detectors. We compute detection rates of coalescing DCOs in second-generation GW detectors using the latest models for their cosmological evolution, and implementing inspiral-merger-ringdown gravitational waveform models in our signal-to-noise ratio calculations. We find that (1) the inclusion of the merger/ringdown portion of the signal does not significantly affect rates for NS-NS and BH-NS systems, but it boosts rates by a factor of ∼1.5 for BH-BH systems; (2) in almost all of our models BH-BH systems yield by far the largest rates, followed by NS-NS and BH-NS systems, respectively; and (3) a majority of the detectable BH-BH systems were formed in the early universe in low-metallicity environments. We make predictions for the distributions of detected binaries and discuss what the first GW detections will teach us about the astrophysics underlying binary formation and evolution.
KW - binaries: close
KW - gravitational waves
KW - stars: black holes
KW - stars: neutron
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84934344251&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1088/0004-637X/806/2/263
DO - 10.1088/0004-637X/806/2/263
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84934344251
SN - 0004-637X
VL - 806
SP - 1
EP - 18
JO - The Astrophysical Journal
JF - The Astrophysical Journal
IS - 2
M1 - 263
ER -