Gravitational Wave Background from Extreme-Mass-Ratio Inspirals

Abstract The gravitational wave background (GWB) produced by extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) serves as a powerful tool for probing the astrophysical and dynamical processes in galactic centers. EMRI systems are a primary target for the space-based detector laser interferometer space antenna due to their long-lived signals and high signal-to-noise ratios. This study explores the statistical properties of the GWB from EMRI, focusing on the calculation methods for the GWB, the astrophysical distribution of EMRI sources, and the influence of key parameters, including the spin of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and the masses of compact objects (COs). By analyzing these factors, we determine the distribution range of the characteristic strain of the GWB from EMRIs. We find that the final eccentricity distributions appear to have negligible effect on the intensity of the GWB due to rapid circularization before they become detectable and the spin of the SMBH enhances the gravitational wave characteristic strain by approximately 1% compared to cases without spin effects. The masses of COs can also significantly affect the characteristic strain of the GWB from EMRIs, with black hole as CO producing a gravitational wave signal intensity that is approximately one order of magnitude higher compared to cases where neutron star or white dwarf are the COs.