dc.contributor.author | Hughes, Scott A. | |
dc.contributor.author | Nissanke, Samaya M. | |
dc.contributor.author | Holz, Daniel E. | |
dc.contributor.author | Dalal, Neal | |
dc.contributor.author | Sievers, Jonathan L. | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2011-02-16T16:29:38Z | |
dc.date.available | 2011-02-16T16:29:38Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2010-11 | |
dc.date.submitted | 2009-04 | |
dc.identifier.issn | 0004-637X | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/60956 | |
dc.description.abstract | Recent observations support the hypothesis that a large fraction of "short-hard" gamma-ray bursts (SHBs) are associated with the inspiral and merger of compact binaries. Since gravitational-wave (GW) measurements of well-localized inspiraling binaries can measure absolute source distances, simultaneous observation of a binary's GWs and SHB would allow us to directly and independently determine both the binary's luminosity distance and its redshift. Such a "standard siren" (the GW analog of a standard candle) would provide an excellent probe of the nearby (z [superscript < subscript ~] 0.3) universe's expansion, independent of the cosmological distance ladder, thereby complementing other standard candles. Previous work explored this idea using a simplified formalism to study measurement by advanced GW detector networks, incorporating a high signal-to-noise ratio limit to describe the probability distribution for measured parameters. In this paper, we eliminate this simplification, constructing distributions with a Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique. We assume that each SHB observation gives source sky position and time of coalescence, and we take non-spinning binary neutron star and black hole-neutron star coalescences as plausible SHB progenitors. We examine how well parameters (particularly distance) can be measured from GW observations of SHBs by a range of ground-based detector networks. We find that earlier estimates overstate how well distances can be measured, even at fairly large signal-to-noise ratio. The fundamental limitation to determining distance proves to be a degeneracy between distance and source inclination. Overcoming this limitation requires that we either break this degeneracy, or measure enough sources to broadly sample the inclination distribution. | en_US |
dc.description.sponsorship | National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant PHY-0449884) | en_US |
dc.description.sponsorship | MIT Class of 1956 Career Development Fund | en_US |
dc.language.iso | en_US | |
dc.publisher | Institute of Physics ; American Astronomical Society. | en_US |
dc.relation.isversionof | http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/725/1/496 | en_US |
dc.rights | Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported | en_US |
dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ | en_US |
dc.source | MIT web domain | en_US |
dc.title | EXPLORING SHORT GAMMA-RAY BURSTS AS GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE STANDARD SIRENS | en_US |
dc.type | Article | en_US |
dc.identifier.citation | Nissanke, Samaya et al. “EXPLORING SHORT GAMMA-RAY BURSTS AS GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE STANDARD SIRENS.” The Astrophysical Journal 725.1 (2010): 496-514. © IOP Publishing 2011 | en_US |
dc.contributor.department | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics | en_US |
dc.contributor.department | MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research | en_US |
dc.contributor.approver | Hughes, Scott A. | |
dc.contributor.mitauthor | Hughes, Scott A. | |
dc.contributor.mitauthor | Nissanke, Samaya M. | |
dc.relation.journal | Astrophysical journal | en_US |
dc.eprint.version | Author's final manuscript | en_US |
dc.type.uri | http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle | en_US |
eprint.status | http://purl.org/eprint/status/PeerReviewed | en_US |
dspace.orderedauthors | Nissanke, Samaya; Holz, Daniel E.; Hughes, Scott A.; Dalal, Neal; Sievers, Jonathan L. | en |
dc.identifier.orcid | https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6211-1388 | |
dspace.mitauthor.error | true | |
mit.license | OPEN_ACCESS_POLICY | en_US |
mit.metadata.status | Complete | |