Sensitivity of Weak Lensing Surveys to Gravitational Waves from Inspiraling Supermassive Black Hole Binaries

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: Adi, Tal, Pardo, Kris, Doré, Olivier
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866914558909612032
author Adi, Tal
Pardo, Kris
Doré, Olivier
author_facet Adi, Tal
Pardo, Kris
Doré, Olivier
contents We explore the sensitivity of weak lensing surveys to gravitational waves (GWs) emitted by inspiraling supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) in the nanohertz to microhertz frequency band, bridging the gap between pulsar timing arrays and space-based interferometers. Building on the formalism for GW-induced shear distortions, we develop a signal-to-noise framework that incorporates survey characteristics such as cadence, angular resolution, and depth. We model the effective galaxy population to evaluate the noise power spectral density and derive characteristic strain sensitivity curves. Applying this framework to both LSST-like and idealized survey configurations, we show that current surveys are limited by angular resolution and measurement noise, while an idealized, cosmic-variance-limited survey could in principle probe this frequency range. We emphasize that such sensitivity requires observational capabilities far beyond those of existing or planned facilities, and our results should be interpreted as an ultimate limit on the information accessible through weak lensing measurements.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_21392
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Sensitivity of Weak Lensing Surveys to Gravitational Waves from Inspiraling Supermassive Black Hole Binaries
Adi, Tal
Pardo, Kris
Doré, Olivier
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
We explore the sensitivity of weak lensing surveys to gravitational waves (GWs) emitted by inspiraling supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) in the nanohertz to microhertz frequency band, bridging the gap between pulsar timing arrays and space-based interferometers. Building on the formalism for GW-induced shear distortions, we develop a signal-to-noise framework that incorporates survey characteristics such as cadence, angular resolution, and depth. We model the effective galaxy population to evaluate the noise power spectral density and derive characteristic strain sensitivity curves. Applying this framework to both LSST-like and idealized survey configurations, we show that current surveys are limited by angular resolution and measurement noise, while an idealized, cosmic-variance-limited survey could in principle probe this frequency range. We emphasize that such sensitivity requires observational capabilities far beyond those of existing or planned facilities, and our results should be interpreted as an ultimate limit on the information accessible through weak lensing measurements.
title Sensitivity of Weak Lensing Surveys to Gravitational Waves from Inspiraling Supermassive Black Hole Binaries
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.21392