Hubble Constant Measurement from Quasiperiodic Eruptions as Electromagnetic Counterparts to Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals
Abstract Gravitational waves (GWs) accompanied by electromagnetic counterparts, known as bright sirens, provide a novel methodology to measure the Hubble constant ( H 0 ). However, the rarity of such multimessenger events limits the precision of the H 0 constraint. Recently, the newly discovered class of nuclear transient, quasiperiodic eruptions (QPEs), shows intriguing evidence of a stellar-mass companion captured by a supermassive black hole in an extreme/intermediate mass ratio inspiral, which is the most promising source of space-based GW detectors, such as LISA. Here, we model the secular orbital evolution of known QPE systems using two frameworks: a stripping scenario in which periodic mass transfer at periapsis drives the evolution, and an orbiter–disk collision scenario in which the companion interacts with a misaligned accretion disk, modulated by coupled orbiter–disk precession. For each framework, we assess detectability by LISA, together with the resulting constraints on H 0 . Our principal findings are (i) in the stripping scenario, no currently known QPE reaches detectability within a four-year LISA mission; (ii) in the orbiter–disk scenario, two sources—eRO-QPE2 and eRO-QPE4—are detectable with signal-to-noise ratios ≃8.5–28.8 and constrain H 0 with a fractional uncertainty of 6.7%–14.9%. QPE systems remain uncertain on the decade-long secular evolution. Therefore, they motivate continued time-domain monitoring of QPE candidates.
Authors
- Shuang-Xi Yi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0672-5646)
- Y. H. Zhan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8177-4667)
- F. Y. Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4157-7714)
- Di Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8452-5351)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Published
- 2026-01-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae2600
- Primary Topic
- Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China