Archival Inference for Eccentric Stellar-Mass Binary Black Holes in Space-Based Gravitational Wave Observations

Archival Inference for Eccentric Stellar-Mass Binary Black Holes in Space-Based Gravitational Wave Observations
Han Wang, Michael J. Williams, Ian Harry, Yi-Ming Hu
arXiv:2510.07174v2 Announce Type: replace
Abstract: Space-based gravitational-wave observatories will detect the early inspiral of stellar-mass binary black holes and can track their eccentricity evolution. However, untargeted searches in the space band are computationally demanding and require relatively high detection thresholds (signal-to-noise ratio $sim 15$). Information from ground-based detections can significantly shrink the parameter space for space-band analyses and thereby substantially reduce the detection threshold. We present a Bayesian inference pipeline for ground-triggered archival space-band analyses that includes eccentricity. Using ground-informed priors, we demonstrate that with one year of LISA or TianQin data a GW190521-like source with signal-to-noise ratio $sim 7$ can be distinguished and tightly constrained. In this setup, space observations sharpened the redshifted chirp mass from $mathcal{O}(10^{-3})M_odot$ to $mathcal{O}(10^{-5})M_odot$, and constrain the eccentricity to $mathcal{O}(10^{-5})$ around the injected value $e_{0.01mathrm{Hz}}=0.1$. These results demonstrate that inference of eccentric stellar-mass binary black holes in noisy space-band data is practically feasible, supports an expanded yield of multiband detections, and strengthens prospects for future astrophysical and gravitational tests.arXiv:2510.07174v2 Announce Type: replace
Abstract: Space-based gravitational-wave observatories will detect the early inspiral of stellar-mass binary black holes and can track their eccentricity evolution. However, untargeted searches in the space band are computationally demanding and require relatively high detection thresholds (signal-to-noise ratio $sim 15$). Information from ground-based detections can significantly shrink the parameter space for space-band analyses and thereby substantially reduce the detection threshold. We present a Bayesian inference pipeline for ground-triggered archival space-band analyses that includes eccentricity. Using ground-informed priors, we demonstrate that with one year of LISA or TianQin data a GW190521-like source with signal-to-noise ratio $sim 7$ can be distinguished and tightly constrained. In this setup, space observations sharpened the redshifted chirp mass from $mathcal{O}(10^{-3})M_odot$ to $mathcal{O}(10^{-5})M_odot$, and constrain the eccentricity to $mathcal{O}(10^{-5})$ around the injected value $e_{0.01mathrm{Hz}}=0.1$. These results demonstrate that inference of eccentric stellar-mass binary black holes in noisy space-band data is practically feasible, supports an expanded yield of multiband detections, and strengthens prospects for future astrophysical and gravitational tests.