Accurate precision cosmology with redshift unknown gravitational wave sources

Physical review. D/Physical review. D., vol. 103

Abstract

Gravitational waves can provide an accurate measurement of the luminosity distance to the source but cannot provide the source redshift unless the degeneracy between mass and redshift can be broken. This makes it essential to infer the redshift of the source independently to measure the expansion history of the Universe. We show that by exploiting the clustering scale of the gravitational wave sources with galaxies of a known redshift, we can infer the expansion history from redshift unknown gravitational wave sources. By using gravitational wave sources of unknown redshift that are detectable from the network of gravitational wave detectors with Advanced LIGO design sensitivity, we will be able to obtain accurate and precise measurements of the local Hubble constant, the expansion history of the Universe, and the gravitational wave bias parameter, which captures the distribution of gravitational wave sources with respect to the redshift tracer distribution. While we showcase its application to low redshift gravitational waves, this technique will be applicable also to the high redshift gravitational wave sources detectable from Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), Cosmic Explorer (CE), and Einstein Telescope (ET). Moreover, this method will also be applicable to samples of supernovae and fast radio bursts with unknown or photometric redshifts.

Authors 4

1. Suvodip Mukherjee Aachen Institute Lorentz

   Leiden University · Delta Institute for Theoretical Physics · Institute for High Energy Physics · University of Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Delta Institute for Theoretical Physics, Science Park 904, 1090 GL Amsterdam, The Netherlands

   Gravitation Astroparticle Physics Amsterdam (GRAPPA), Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy and Institute for High-Energy Physics, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1090 GL Amsterdam, The Netherlands

   Institute Lorentz, Leiden University, PO Box 9506, Leiden 2300 RA, The Netherlands

2. Benjamin D. Wandelt

   Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris · Sorbonne Université · Flatiron Institute · Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie · Institut Lagrange de Paris

   Affiliation as printed

   Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute, 162 5th Avenue, New York, New York 10010, USA

   Institut Lagrange de Paris (ILP), Sorbonne Universités, 98 bis Boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France

   Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), UMR 7095, CNRS/UPMC Université Paris 6, Sorbonne Universités, 98 bis boulevard Arago, F-75014 Paris, France

   Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), UMR 7095, CNRS/UPMC Université Paris 6, Sorbonne Universités, 98 bis boulevard Arago, F-75014 Paris, France

3. S. Nissanke

   Institute for High Energy Physics · University of Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Gravitation Astroparticle Physics Amsterdam (GRAPPA), Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy and Institute for High-Energy Physics, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1090 GL Amsterdam, The Netherlands

4. Alessandra Silvestri Aachen Institute Lorentz

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute Lorentz, Leiden University, PO Box 9506, Leiden 2300 RA, The Netherlands