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The effects of Galactic model uncertainties on LISA observations of double neutron stars

Storck, Anatole and Church, Ross P. LU orcid (2023) In Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 521(2). p.2368-2377
Abstract

Observations of binaries containing pairs of neutron stars using the upcoming space-based gravitational wave observatory, LISA, have the potential to improve our understanding of neutron star physics and binary evolution. In this work, we assess the effect of changing the model of the Milky Way’s kinematics and star formation history on predictions of the population of double neutron stars that will be detected and resolved by LISA. We conclude that the spatial distribution of these binaries is insensitive to the choice of Galactic models, compared to the stochastic variation induced by the small sample size. In particular, the time-consuming computation of the binaries’ Galactic orbits is not necessary. The distributions of... (More)

Observations of binaries containing pairs of neutron stars using the upcoming space-based gravitational wave observatory, LISA, have the potential to improve our understanding of neutron star physics and binary evolution. In this work, we assess the effect of changing the model of the Milky Way’s kinematics and star formation history on predictions of the population of double neutron stars that will be detected and resolved by LISA. We conclude that the spatial distribution of these binaries is insensitive to the choice of Galactic models, compared to the stochastic variation induced by the small sample size. In particular, the time-consuming computation of the binaries’ Galactic orbits is not necessary. The distributions of eccentricity and gravitational-wave frequency are, however, affected by the choice of star formation history. Binaries with eccentricities e > 0.1, which can be measured by LISA observations, are mostly younger than 100 Myr. We caution that comparisons between different predictions for LISA observations need to use consistent star formation histories, and that the Galactic star formation history should be taken into account in the analysis of the observations themselves. The lack of strong dependence on Galactic models means that LISA detection of double neutron star binaries may provide a relatively clean probe of massive binary star evolution.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Galaxy: structure, gravitational waves, instrumentation: detectors, stars: neutron
in
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
volume
521
issue
2
pages
10 pages
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85161600833
ISSN
0035-8711
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stad663
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
27785421-d67a-4e77-bddb-a4d3d8f3fb15
date added to LUP
2023-08-21 13:14:32
date last changed
2023-08-21 13:14:32
@article{27785421-d67a-4e77-bddb-a4d3d8f3fb15,
  abstract     = {{<p>Observations of binaries containing pairs of neutron stars using the upcoming space-based gravitational wave observatory, LISA, have the potential to improve our understanding of neutron star physics and binary evolution. In this work, we assess the effect of changing the model of the Milky Way’s kinematics and star formation history on predictions of the population of double neutron stars that will be detected and resolved by LISA. We conclude that the spatial distribution of these binaries is insensitive to the choice of Galactic models, compared to the stochastic variation induced by the small sample size. In particular, the time-consuming computation of the binaries’ Galactic orbits is not necessary. The distributions of eccentricity and gravitational-wave frequency are, however, affected by the choice of star formation history. Binaries with eccentricities e &gt; 0.1, which can be measured by LISA observations, are mostly younger than 100 Myr. We caution that comparisons between different predictions for LISA observations need to use consistent star formation histories, and that the Galactic star formation history should be taken into account in the analysis of the observations themselves. The lack of strong dependence on Galactic models means that LISA detection of double neutron star binaries may provide a relatively clean probe of massive binary star evolution.</p>}},
  author       = {{Storck, Anatole and Church, Ross P.}},
  issn         = {{0035-8711}},
  keywords     = {{Galaxy: structure; gravitational waves; instrumentation: detectors; stars: neutron}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{2368--2377}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}},
  title        = {{The effects of Galactic model uncertainties on LISA observations of double neutron stars}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad663}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/mnras/stad663}},
  volume       = {{521}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}