GW150914: Implications for the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Binary Black Holes
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PhysRevLett.116.131102.pdf
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Author(s)
Abbott, B. P.
Abbott, R.
Abbott, T. D.
Abernathy, M. R.
Acernese, F.
Ackley, K.
Adams, C.
Adams, T.
Addesso, P.
Adhikari, R. X.
Date Issued
March 2016
Journal
Physical Review Letters
Publisher
American Physical Society
Citation
Abbott, B. P., R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, M. R. Abernathy, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, C. Adams, et al. “GW150914: Implications for the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Binary Black Holes.” Physical Review Letters 116, no. 13 (March 31, 2016). © 2016 American Physical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The LIGO detection of the gravitational wave transient GW150914, from the inspiral and merger of two black holes with masses ≳30M[subscript ⊙], suggests a population of binary black holes with relatively high mass. This observation implies that the stochastic gravitational-wave background from binary black holes, created from the incoherent superposition of all the merging binaries in the Universe, could be higher than previously expected. Using the properties of GW150914, we estimate the energy density of such a background from binary black holes. In the most sensitive part of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo band for stochastic backgrounds (near 25 Hz), we predict Ω[subscript GW](f = 25 Hz) = 1.1[+2.7 over -0.9] × 10[superscript -9] with 90% confidence. This prediction is robustly demonstrated for a variety of formation scenarios with different parameters. The differences between models are small compared to the statistical uncertainty arising from the currently poorly constrained local coalescence rate. We conclude that this background is potentially measurable by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors operating at their projected final sensitivity.
MIT Department
Lincoln Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
LIGO (Observatory : Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
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DOI of Published Version
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.131102
