2012/08/01 by Krzysztof Belczyński, Belczynski, Krzysztof, Michał Dominik +7 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1208.0358
openalex publication_date 2012/08/01 · openalex created_date 2022/10/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We compare the current LIGO/Virgo upper limits on double compact object\nvolumetric merger rates with our theoretical predictions. Our optimistic models\nare a factor of 3 below the existing upper limits for massive BH-BH systems\nwith total mass 50-70 Msun, suggesting that a small increase in observational\nsensitivity may bring the first detections. The LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave\nobservatories are currently being upgraded to advanced design sensitivity. If a\nsizeable population of BH-BH binaries is detected, the maximum total binary\nmass of this population will discriminate between two general families of\ncommon envelope models. If no binaries are detected, the new upper limits will\nprovide astrophysically useful information about the environment and physical\nprocesses (e.g., metallicity of host galaxies or BH natal kicks) crucial to the\nformation of binaries containing black holes. For NS-NS systems, our predicted\nrates are 3 orders of magnitude below the current upper limits; even if\nadvanced instruments reach their design sensitivities (factors of 10 times in\ndistance, and 1,000 times in volumetric rate) the detection of NS-NS systems is\nnot assured. However, we note that although our predicted NS-NS merger rates\nare consistent with estimates derived from Galactic NS-NS binaries and short\nGRBs, they are on the low side of these empirical estimates.\n