Outlook for detecting the gravitational wave displacement and spin memory effects with current and future gravitational wave detectors. (arXiv:2210.16266v1 [gr-qc])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/gr-qc/1/au:+Grant_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Alexander M. Grant</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/gr-qc/1/au:+Nichols_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">David A. Nichols</a>
Gravitational wave memory effects arise from non-oscillatory components of
gravitational wave signals, and they are predictions of general relativity in
the nonlinear regime that have close connections to the asymptotic properties
of isolated gravitating systems. There are many types of memory effects that
have been studied in the literature. In this paper we focus on the
“displacement” and “spin” memories, which are expected to be the largest of
these effects from sources such as the binary black hole mergers which have
already been detected by LIGO and Virgo. The displacement memory is a change in
the relative separation of two initially comoving observers due to a burst of
gravitational waves, whereas the spin memory is a portion of the change in
relative separation of observers with initial relative velocity. As both of
these effects are small, LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA can only detect memory effects
from individual events that are much louder (and thus rarer) than those that
have been detected so far. By combining data from multiple events, however,
these effects could be detected in a population of binary mergers. In this
paper, we present new forecasts for how long current and future detectors will
need to operate in order to measure these effects from populations of binary
black hole systems that are consistent with the populations inferred from the
detections from LIGO and Virgo’s first three observing runs. We find that a
second-generation detector network of LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA operating at the
O4 (“design”) sensitivity for 1.5 years and then operating at the O5 (“plus”)
sensitivity for an additional year can detect the displacement memory. For
Cosmic Explorer, we find that displacement memory could be detected for
individual loud events, and that the spin memory could be detected in a
population after 5 years of observation time.
Gravitational wave memory effects arise from non-oscillatory components of
gravitational wave signals, and they are predictions of general relativity in
the nonlinear regime that have close connections to the asymptotic properties
of isolated gravitating systems. There are many types of memory effects that
have been studied in the literature. In this paper we focus on the
“displacement” and “spin” memories, which are expected to be the largest of
these effects from sources such as the binary black hole mergers which have
already been detected by LIGO and Virgo. The displacement memory is a change in
the relative separation of two initially comoving observers due to a burst of
gravitational waves, whereas the spin memory is a portion of the change in
relative separation of observers with initial relative velocity. As both of
these effects are small, LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA can only detect memory effects
from individual events that are much louder (and thus rarer) than those that
have been detected so far. By combining data from multiple events, however,
these effects could be detected in a population of binary mergers. In this
paper, we present new forecasts for how long current and future detectors will
need to operate in order to measure these effects from populations of binary
black hole systems that are consistent with the populations inferred from the
detections from LIGO and Virgo’s first three observing runs. We find that a
second-generation detector network of LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA operating at the
O4 (“design”) sensitivity for 1.5 years and then operating at the O5 (“plus”)
sensitivity for an additional year can detect the displacement memory. For
Cosmic Explorer, we find that displacement memory could be detected for
individual loud events, and that the spin memory could be detected in a
population after 5 years of observation time.
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