Premerger observation and characterization of massive black hole binaries
We demonstrate an end-to-end technique for observing and characterizing massive black hole binary signals before they merge with the LISA space-based gravitational-wave observatory. Our method uses a zero-latency whitening filter, originally designed for rapidly observing compact binary mergers in ground-based observatories, to be able to observe signals with no additional latency due to filter length. We show that with minimal computational cost, we are able to reliably observe signals as early as 14 days premerger as long as the signal has accrued a signal-to-noise ratio of at least 8 in the LISA data. We also demonstrate that this method can be used to characterize the source properties, providing early estimates of the source’s merger time, chirp mass, and sky localization. Early observation and characterization of massive black holes is crucial to enable the possibility of rapid multimessenger observations, and to ensure that LISA can enter a protected operating period when the merger signal arrives.
Authors
- Antoine Klein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5438-9152)
- G. Woan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0381-0394)
- G. Pratten (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4984-0775)
- Leor Barack (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4742-9413)
- Diganta Bandopadhyay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0975-5613)
- G. S. Davies (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4289-3439)
- H. Middleton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5532-3622)
- C. G. Hoy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8843-6719)
- Jean-Baptiste Bayle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7629-6555)
- C. J. Moore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2527-0213)
- M. J. Williams (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2198-2974)
- I. W. Harry (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5304-9372)
- A. Vecchio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6254-1617)
- L. K. Nuttall (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8599-8791)
Institutions
- University of Southampton (GB)
- University of Portsmouth (GB)
- University of Glasgow (GB)
- University of Birmingham (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
- Published
- 2025-02-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.111.043045
- Citations
- 7
- Primary Topic
- Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 8.08
Funders
- University of Portsmouth
- UK Space Agency
- UK Research and Innovation
- Royal Society
- South East Physics Network