Big Bang Observer and the neutron-star-binary subtraction problem

Curt Cutler and Jan Harms
Phys. Rev. D 73, 042001 – Published 8 February 2006

Abstract

The Big Bang Observer (BBO) is a proposed space-based gravitational-wave (GW) mission designed primarily to search for an inflation-generated GW background in the frequency range 101Hz1Hz. The major astrophysical foreground in this range is gravitational radiation from inspiralling compact binaries. This foreground is expected to be much larger than the inflation-generated background, so to accomplish its main goal, BBO must be sensitive enough to identify and subtract out practically all such binaries in the observable universe. It is somewhat subtle to decide whether BBO’s current baseline design is sufficiently sensitive for this task, since, at least initially, the dominant noise source impeding identification of any one binary is confusion noise from all the others (rather than instrumental noise). Here we present a self-consistent scheme for deciding whether BBO’s baseline design is indeed adequate for subtracting out the binary foreground. We conclude that the current baseline should be sufficient. However, if BBO’s sensitivity were degraded by a factor 2 from the current baseline, then its ability to detect an underlying primordial background would depend critically on the value of ρth, the threshold signal-to-noise ratio marking the boundary between detectable and undetectable sources. If BBO’s sensitivity were degraded by a factor 4 from the current baseline, it could not detect a primordial background below ΩGW1015. It is impossible to perfectly subtract out each of the binary inspiral waveforms, so an important question is how to deal with the “residual” errors in the post-subtraction data stream. We sketch a strategy of “projecting out” these residual errors, at the cost of some effective bandwidth. We also provide estimates of the sizes of various post-Newtonian effects in the inspiral waveforms that must be accounted for in the BBO analysis.

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  • Received 16 November 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.73.042001

©2006 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Curt Cutler

  • Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91109, USA

Jan Harms

  • Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik and Universität Hannover, Callinstraße 38, 30167 Hannover, Germany

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Issue

Vol. 73, Iss. 4 — 15 February 2006

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