Prospects for observing extreme-mass-ratio inspirals with LISA

[摘要] One of the key astrophysical sources for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) are the inspirals of stellar-origin compact objects into massive black holes in the centres of galaxies. These extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) have great potential for astrophysics, cosmology and fundamental physics. In this paper we describe the likely numbers and properties of EMRI events that LISA will observe. We present the first results computed for the 2.5 Gm interferometer that was the new baseline mission submitted in January 2017 in response to the ESA L3 mission call. In addition, we attempt to quantify the astrophysical uncertainties in EMRI event rate estimates by considering a range of different models for the astrophysical population. We present both likely event rates and estimates for the precision with which the parameters of the observed sources could be measured. We finish by discussing the implications of these results for science using EMRIs.

[发布机构] School of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, Peter Guthrie Tait Road, Edinburgh; EH9 3FD, United Kingdom^1;Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Albert Einstein Institute, Am Mühlenberg 1, Golm; 14476, Germany^2;School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham; B15 2TT, United Kingdom^3;Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (CSIC-IEEC), Campus UAB, Carrer de Can Magrans s/n, Cerdanyola del Vallès; 08193, Spain^4;Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Beijing; 100871, China^5;Institute of Applied Mathematics, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, CAS, Beijing; 100190, China^6;Zentrum für Astronomie und Astrophysik, TU Berlin, Hardenbergstraße 36, Berlin; 10623, Germany^7;Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univesité Paris 6, UMR 7095, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, 98 bis Bd Arago, Paris; 75014, France^8;CNRS, UMR 7095, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, 98 bis Bd Arago, Paris; 75014, France; (10) Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Mississippi, University; MS; 38677, United States; (11) CENTRA, Departamento de Física, Instituto SuperiorTécnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida Rovisco Pais 1, Lisboa; 1049, Portugal^9

[关键词] Astrophysical sources;Compact objects;Fundamental physics;Laser interferometer space antenna;Mass ratio;Massive black holes