Memory Detection Prospects for Low-Frequency Gravitational Wave Detectors
Abstract
General Relativity predicts the gravitational wave signature from coalescing compact binaries to be accompanied by a non-periodic signal born of the non-linearities in Einstein's field equations. This effect is deemed ''memory'' as it accumulates from the entire past emission of the system. During the most dynamic stages of binary merger, the memory exponentially increases until the masses are tidally disrupted, at which point the signal saturates to a constant value. This effect propagates out into the ambient space, permanently deforming all it encounters. Supermassive system coalescences emit memory signals with amplitudes detectable by low-frequency gravitational wave detectors, including pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) and the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). A detection would allow strong-field tests of General Relativity, provide an alternate method for observing binary coalescence, and place constraints on their formation. In this talk I present current PTA sensitivity to this effect from a simulated population of coalescing supermassive black hole binaries, and estimate LISA's ability to witness memory from these same systems.
National Science Foundation Physics Frontier Center Award Number 1430284.- Publication:
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APS April Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019APS..APRT16007I