Gravitational-wave parameter estimation to the Moon and back: massive binaries and the case of GW231123
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866913095245365248 |
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| author | Iacovelli, Francesco Tissino, Jacopo Harms, Jan Berti, Emanuele |
| author_facet | Iacovelli, Francesco Tissino, Jacopo Harms, Jan Berti, Emanuele |
| contents | We study the prospects of the Lunar Gravitational-Wave Antenna (LGWA), a proposed deci-Hz GW detector, to observe binary black holes (BBHs) and enable multiband science with ground-based detectors. We assess the detectability of the events observed by current instruments up to the GWTC-4.0 data release, and of simulated populations consistent with the latest reconstruction by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration. We find that LGWA alone would have been able to observe more than one third of the events detected so far, and that it could detect $\sim\!90$ events merging in the ground-based band per year out to redshifts $z\sim3-5$. Current detectors at design sensitivity and 100% duty cycle could detect thousands of BBHs per year, with one to a few hundred multiband counterparts in LGWA. Third-generation (3G) detectors can observe most of the BBHs detected by LGWA merging in their frequency band in the simulated mass range $7\,{\rm M}_\odot\lesssim M_{\rm tot}\lesssim 600\,{\rm M}_\odot$, enabling systematic joint analyses of hundreds of events. The short time to merger from the deci-Hz band to the Hz-kHz band (typically months to a year) allows for early warning, targeted follow-up, and archival searches. Multiband observations of intermediate-mass BBHs in the deci-Hz band are particularly promising. We perform an injection study for a GW231123-like system (the most massive BBH detection to date, which accumulates $\sim 10^5$ inspiral cycles in LGWA) and show that deci-Hz observations can measure the chirp mass even better than 3G instruments and yield good sky localization and inclination measurement, even with a single observatory. Opening the deci-Hz band would substantially improve the prospects of GW astronomy for intermediate-mass BBHs. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_09978 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Gravitational-wave parameter estimation to the Moon and back: massive binaries and the case of GW231123 Iacovelli, Francesco Tissino, Jacopo Harms, Jan Berti, Emanuele General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena We study the prospects of the Lunar Gravitational-Wave Antenna (LGWA), a proposed deci-Hz GW detector, to observe binary black holes (BBHs) and enable multiband science with ground-based detectors. We assess the detectability of the events observed by current instruments up to the GWTC-4.0 data release, and of simulated populations consistent with the latest reconstruction by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration. We find that LGWA alone would have been able to observe more than one third of the events detected so far, and that it could detect $\sim\!90$ events merging in the ground-based band per year out to redshifts $z\sim3-5$. Current detectors at design sensitivity and 100% duty cycle could detect thousands of BBHs per year, with one to a few hundred multiband counterparts in LGWA. Third-generation (3G) detectors can observe most of the BBHs detected by LGWA merging in their frequency band in the simulated mass range $7\,{\rm M}_\odot\lesssim M_{\rm tot}\lesssim 600\,{\rm M}_\odot$, enabling systematic joint analyses of hundreds of events. The short time to merger from the deci-Hz band to the Hz-kHz band (typically months to a year) allows for early warning, targeted follow-up, and archival searches. Multiband observations of intermediate-mass BBHs in the deci-Hz band are particularly promising. We perform an injection study for a GW231123-like system (the most massive BBH detection to date, which accumulates $\sim 10^5$ inspiral cycles in LGWA) and show that deci-Hz observations can measure the chirp mass even better than 3G instruments and yield good sky localization and inclination measurement, even with a single observatory. Opening the deci-Hz band would substantially improve the prospects of GW astronomy for intermediate-mass BBHs. |
| title | Gravitational-wave parameter estimation to the Moon and back: massive binaries and the case of GW231123 |
| topic | General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.09978 |