Inferring host-galaxy properties of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA's black holes

Fuente: arXiv
Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Vijaykumar, Aditya, Fishbach, Maya, Adhikari, Susmita, Holz, Daniel E.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2023
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866909473837154304
author Vijaykumar, Aditya
Fishbach, Maya
Adhikari, Susmita
Holz, Daniel E.
author_facet Vijaykumar, Aditya
Fishbach, Maya
Adhikari, Susmita
Holz, Daniel E.
contents Observations of gravitational waves from binary black hole (BBH) mergers have measured the redshift evolution of the BBH merger rate. The number density of galaxies in the Universe evolves differently with redshift based on their physical properties, such as their stellar masses and star formation rates. In this work we show that the measured population-level redshift distribution of BBHs sheds light on the properties of their probable host-galaxies. We first assume that the hosts of BBHs can be described by a mixture model of galaxies weighted by stellar mass or star formation rate, and find that we can place upper limits on the fraction of mergers coming from a stellar mass weighted sample of galaxies. We then constrain parameters of a physically motivated power-law delay-time distribution using GWTC-3 data, and self-consistently track galaxies in the \textsc{UniverseMachine} simulations with this delay-time model to infer the probable host-galaxies of BBHs over a range of redshifts. We find that the inferred host-galaxy distribution at redshift $z=0.21$ has a median star formation rate $\sim 0.9\,M_\odot\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$ and a median stellar mass of $\sim 1.9 \times 10^{10}\,M_\odot$. We also provide distributions for the mean stellar age, halo mass, halo radius, peculiar velocity, and large scale bias associated with the host-galaxies, as well as their absolute magnitudes in the B- and ${ \rm K_s}$-bands. Our results can be used to design optimal electromagnetic follow-up strategies for BBHs, and also to aid the measurement of cosmological parameters using the statistical dark siren method.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2312_03316
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Inferring host-galaxy properties of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA's black holes
Vijaykumar, Aditya
Fishbach, Maya
Adhikari, Susmita
Holz, Daniel E.
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Astrophysics of Galaxies
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Observations of gravitational waves from binary black hole (BBH) mergers have measured the redshift evolution of the BBH merger rate. The number density of galaxies in the Universe evolves differently with redshift based on their physical properties, such as their stellar masses and star formation rates. In this work we show that the measured population-level redshift distribution of BBHs sheds light on the properties of their probable host-galaxies. We first assume that the hosts of BBHs can be described by a mixture model of galaxies weighted by stellar mass or star formation rate, and find that we can place upper limits on the fraction of mergers coming from a stellar mass weighted sample of galaxies. We then constrain parameters of a physically motivated power-law delay-time distribution using GWTC-3 data, and self-consistently track galaxies in the \textsc{UniverseMachine} simulations with this delay-time model to infer the probable host-galaxies of BBHs over a range of redshifts. We find that the inferred host-galaxy distribution at redshift $z=0.21$ has a median star formation rate $\sim 0.9\,M_\odot\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$ and a median stellar mass of $\sim 1.9 \times 10^{10}\,M_\odot$. We also provide distributions for the mean stellar age, halo mass, halo radius, peculiar velocity, and large scale bias associated with the host-galaxies, as well as their absolute magnitudes in the B- and ${ \rm K_s}$-bands. Our results can be used to design optimal electromagnetic follow-up strategies for BBHs, and also to aid the measurement of cosmological parameters using the statistical dark siren method.
title Inferring host-galaxy properties of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA's black holes
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Astrophysics of Galaxies
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.03316