2025/12/24 by Tal Adi, Kris Pardo, Adi, Tal +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2512.21392
openalex publication_date 2025/12/24 · openalex created_date 2025/12/30 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We explore the sensitivity of weak lensing surveys to gravitational waves (GWs) emitted by inspiraling supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) in the nanohertz to microhertz frequency band, bridging the gap between pulsar timing arrays and space-based interferometers. Building on the formalism for GW-induced shear distortions, we develop a signal-to-noise framework that incorporates survey characteristics such as cadence, angular resolution, and depth. We model the effective galaxy population to evaluate the noise power spectral density and derive characteristic strain sensitivity curves. Applying this framework to both LSST-like and idealized survey configurations, we show that current surveys are limited by angular resolution and measurement noise, while an idealized, cosmic-variance-limited survey could in principle probe this frequency range. We emphasize that such sensitivity requires observational capabilities far beyond those of existing or planned facilities, and our results should be interpreted as an ultimate limit on the information accessible through weak lensing measurements.