2024/12/02 by Stefano Zazzera, José Fonseca, Zazzera, Stefano +5 · 1 voice · 6 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #COSMIC cancer database #Dark matter #Einstein Telescope #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Gravitational wave #Large Synoptic Survey Telescope #Observatory #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Redshift #Weak gravitational lensing #astro-ph.CO
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/staf150
published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 537(2), 1912-1923 (Oxford University Press)
arxiv published 2024/12/02 · arxiv updated 2024/12/02 · openalex publication_date 2025/01/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
ABSTRACT Gravitational waves (GWs) have rapidly become important cosmological probes since their first detection in 2015. As the number of detected events continues to rise, upcoming instruments like Einstein Telescope (ET) and Cosmic Explorer (CE) will observe millions of compact binary mergers. These detections, coupled with galaxy surveys by instruments such as the Dark Spectroscopic Energy Instrument (DESI), Euclid, and the Vera Rubin Observatory, will provide unique information on the large-scale structure of the universe by cross-correlating GWs with the distribution of galaxies hosting them. In this paper, we focus on how cross-correlations constrain the clustering bias of GWs emitted by the coalescence of binary black holes (BBHs). This parameter links BBHs to the underlying dark matter distribution, hence informing us how they populate galaxies. Using a multitracer approach, we forecast the precision of these measurements under different survey combinations. Our results indicate that current GW detectors will have limited precision, with measurement errors as high as ∼ 50~ \rm per cent. However, third-generation detectors like ET, when cross-correlated with Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) data, can improve clustering bias measurements to within 2.5 per cent. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these cross-correlations can enable a per cent-level measurement of the magnification lensing effect on GWs. Despite this, there is a degeneracy between magnification and evolution biases, which hinders the precision of both. This degeneracy is most effectively addressed by assuming knowledge of one bias or targeting an optimal redshift range of 1 \lt z \lt 2.5. Our analysis opens new avenues for studying the distribution of BBHs and testing the nature of gravity through large-scale structure.