Hierarchical Bayesian inference on an analytical model of the LISA massive black hole binary population

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Langen, Vivienne, Tamanini, Nicola, Marsat, Sylvain, Bortolas, Elisa
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Langen, Vivienne
Tamanini, Nicola
Marsat, Sylvain
Bortolas, Elisa
author_facet Langen, Vivienne
Tamanini, Nicola
Marsat, Sylvain
Bortolas, Elisa
contents Massive black hole binary (MBHB) mergers will be detectable in large numbers by the Lisa Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), which will thus provide new insights on how they form via repeated dark matter (DM) halo and galaxy mergers. Here we present a simple analytical model to generate a population of MBHB mergers based on a theoretical prescription that connects them to DM halo mergers. The high flexibility of our approach allows us to explore the broad and uncertain range of MBH seeding and growth mechanisms, as well as the different effects behind the interplay between MBH and galactic astrophysics. Such a flexibility is fundamental for the successful implementation and optimisation of the hierarchical Bayesian parameter estimation approach that here we apply to the MBHB population of LISA for the first time. Our inferred population hyper-parameters are chosen as proxies to characterise the MBH--DM halo mass scaling relation, the occupation fraction of MBHs in DM halos and the delay between halo and MBHB mergers. We find that LISA will provide tight constraints at the lower-end of the MBH-halo scaling relation, well complementing EM observations which are biased towards large masses. Furthermore, our results suggest that LISA will constrain some features of the MBH occupation fraction at high redshift, as well as merger time delays of the order of a few hundreds of Myr, opening the possibility to constrain dynamical evolution time scales such as the dynamical friction. The analysis presented here constitutes a first attempt at developing a hierarchical Bayesian inference approach to the LISA MBHB population, opening the way for several further improvements and investigations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_06527
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Hierarchical Bayesian inference on an analytical model of the LISA massive black hole binary population
Langen, Vivienne
Tamanini, Nicola
Marsat, Sylvain
Bortolas, Elisa
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Massive black hole binary (MBHB) mergers will be detectable in large numbers by the Lisa Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), which will thus provide new insights on how they form via repeated dark matter (DM) halo and galaxy mergers. Here we present a simple analytical model to generate a population of MBHB mergers based on a theoretical prescription that connects them to DM halo mergers. The high flexibility of our approach allows us to explore the broad and uncertain range of MBH seeding and growth mechanisms, as well as the different effects behind the interplay between MBH and galactic astrophysics. Such a flexibility is fundamental for the successful implementation and optimisation of the hierarchical Bayesian parameter estimation approach that here we apply to the MBHB population of LISA for the first time. Our inferred population hyper-parameters are chosen as proxies to characterise the MBH--DM halo mass scaling relation, the occupation fraction of MBHs in DM halos and the delay between halo and MBHB mergers. We find that LISA will provide tight constraints at the lower-end of the MBH-halo scaling relation, well complementing EM observations which are biased towards large masses. Furthermore, our results suggest that LISA will constrain some features of the MBH occupation fraction at high redshift, as well as merger time delays of the order of a few hundreds of Myr, opening the possibility to constrain dynamical evolution time scales such as the dynamical friction. The analysis presented here constitutes a first attempt at developing a hierarchical Bayesian inference approach to the LISA MBHB population, opening the way for several further improvements and investigations.
title Hierarchical Bayesian inference on an analytical model of the LISA massive black hole binary population
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.06527