Spectral Sirens: Cosmology from the Full Mass Distribution of Compact Binaries
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Spectral Sirens : Cosmology from the Full Mass Distribution of Compact Binaries. / Ezquiaga, Jose Maria; Holz, Daniel E.
In: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 129, No. 6, 061102, 05.08.2022.Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Spectral Sirens
T2 - Cosmology from the Full Mass Distribution of Compact Binaries
AU - Ezquiaga, Jose Maria
AU - Holz, Daniel E.
PY - 2022/8/5
Y1 - 2022/8/5
N2 - We explore the use of the mass spectrum of neutron stars and black holes in gravitational-wave compact binary sources as a cosmological probe. These standard siren sources provide direct measurements of luminosity distance. In addition, features in the mass distribution, such as mass gaps or peaks, will redshift and thus provide independent constraints on their redshift distribution. We argue that the entire mass spectrum should be utilized to provide cosmological constraints. For example, we find that the mass spectrum of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA events introduces at least five independent mass "features": the upper and lower edges of the pair instability supernova (PISN) gap, the upper and lower edges of the neutron star-black hole gap, and the minimum neutron star mass. We find that although the PISN gap dominates the cosmological inference with current detectors (second generation, 2G), as shown in previous work, it is the lower mass gap that will provide the most powerful constraints in the era of Cosmic Explorer and Einstein Telescope (third generation, 3G). By using the full mass distribution, we demonstrate that degeneracies between mass evolution and cosmological evolution can be broken, unless an astrophysical conspiracy shifts all features of the full mass distribution simultaneously following the (nontrivial) Hubble diagram evolution. We find that this self-calibrating "spectral siren" method has the potential to provide precision constraints of both cosmology and the evolution of the mass distribution, with 2G achieving better than 10% precision on H(z) at z less than or similar to 1 within a year and 3G reaching less than or similar to 1% at z greater than or similar to 2 within one month.
AB - We explore the use of the mass spectrum of neutron stars and black holes in gravitational-wave compact binary sources as a cosmological probe. These standard siren sources provide direct measurements of luminosity distance. In addition, features in the mass distribution, such as mass gaps or peaks, will redshift and thus provide independent constraints on their redshift distribution. We argue that the entire mass spectrum should be utilized to provide cosmological constraints. For example, we find that the mass spectrum of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA events introduces at least five independent mass "features": the upper and lower edges of the pair instability supernova (PISN) gap, the upper and lower edges of the neutron star-black hole gap, and the minimum neutron star mass. We find that although the PISN gap dominates the cosmological inference with current detectors (second generation, 2G), as shown in previous work, it is the lower mass gap that will provide the most powerful constraints in the era of Cosmic Explorer and Einstein Telescope (third generation, 3G). By using the full mass distribution, we demonstrate that degeneracies between mass evolution and cosmological evolution can be broken, unless an astrophysical conspiracy shifts all features of the full mass distribution simultaneously following the (nontrivial) Hubble diagram evolution. We find that this self-calibrating "spectral siren" method has the potential to provide precision constraints of both cosmology and the evolution of the mass distribution, with 2G achieving better than 10% precision on H(z) at z less than or similar to 1 within a year and 3G reaching less than or similar to 1% at z greater than or similar to 2 within one month.
KW - HUBBLE CONSTANT
KW - DARK ENERGY
KW - POPULATION PROPERTIES
KW - GRAVITATIONAL-WAVES
KW - LIGO
KW - GRAVITY
KW - STARS
KW - 1ST
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.061102
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.061102
M3 - Letter
C2 - 36018642
VL - 129
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
SN - 0031-9007
IS - 6
M1 - 061102
ER -
ID: 334655866