2020/11/30 by Hsin-Yu Chen, P. S. Cowperthwaite, Philip S. Cowperthwaite +3 · 71 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #COSMIC cancer database #Cosmology #Galaxy #Gamma-ray burst #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Gravitational wave #Kilonova #LIGO #Neutron star #Observatory #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Redshift #astro-ph.CO
paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/2041-8213/abdab0
published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters 908(1), L4 (IOP Publishing) · The Astrophysical Journal Letters accepted version
arxiv created 2021/01/13 · openalex publication_date 2021/02/01 · arxiv updated 2021/02/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Abstract The most promising variation of the standard siren technique combines gravitational-wave (GW) data for binary neutron star (BNS) mergers with redshift measurements enabled by their electromagnetic (EM) counterparts, to constrain cosmological parameters such as H 0 , Ω m , and w 0 . Here we evaluate the near- and long-term prospects of multimessenger cosmology in the era of future GW observatories: Advanced LIGO Plus (A+, 2025), Voyager-like detectors (2030s), and Cosmic Explorer–like detectors (2035 and beyond). We show that the BNS horizon distance of ≈ 700 Mpc for A+ is well matched to the sensitivity of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory (VRO) for kilonova detections. We find that one year of joint A+ and VRO observations will constrain the value of H 0 to percent-level precision, given a small investment of VRO time dedicated to target-of-opportunity GW follow-up. In the Voyager era, the BNS–kilonova observations begin to constrain Ω m with an investment of a few percent of VRO time. With the larger BNS horizon distance in the Cosmic Explorer era, on-axis short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) and their afterglows (though accompanying only some of the GW-detected mergers) supplant kilonovae as the most promising counterparts for redshift identification. We show that five years of joint observations with Cosmic Explorer–like facilities and a next-generation gamma-ray satellite with localization capabilities similar to that presently possible with Swift could constrain both Ω m and w 0 to 15%–20%. We therefore advocate for a robust target-of-opportunity (ToO) program with VRO, and a wide-field gamma-ray satellite with improved sensitivity in the 2030s, to enable standard siren cosmology with next-generation gravitational-wave facilities.