TY - JOUR

T1 - Identifying heavy stellar black holes at cosmological distances with next-generation gravitational-wave observatories

AU - Fairhurst, Stephen

AU - Mills, Cameron

AU - Colpi, Monica

AU - Schneider, Raffaella

AU - Sesana, Alberto

AU - Trinca, Alessandro

AU - Valiante, Rosa

N1 - Funding Information: SF acknowledges the support of STFC grant ST/V005618/1 and a Leverhulme Trust International Fellowship. RS acknowledges support from the Amaldi Research Centre funded by the MIUR programme ‘Dipartimento di Eccellenza’ (CUP:B81I18001170001). MC, RS, AT, and RV acknowledge the INFN TEONGRAV specific initiative. MC acknowledges support by the 2017-NAZ- 0418/PER grant, and by the Italian Ministry for Universities and Research (MUR) program ‘Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2023-2027’, within the framework of the activities of the ‘Centro Bicocca di Cosmologia Quantitativa (BiCoQ)’. AS acknowledges the financial support provided under the European Union’s H2020 ERCConsolidator Grant‘Binary MassiveBlack Hole Astrophysics’ (B Massive, Grant Agreement: 818691).

PY - 2024/4

Y1 - 2024/4

N2 - We investigate the detectability of single-event coalescing black hole binaries with total mass of 100–600 M at cosmological distances (5 z 20) with the next generation of terrestrial gravitational wave observatories, specifically Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer. Our ability to observe these binaries is limited by the low-frequency performance of the detectors. Higher order multipoles of the gravitational wave signal are observable in these systems, and detection of such multipoles serves to both extend the mass range over which black hole binaries are observable and improve the recovery of their individual masses and redshift. For high-redshift systems of ∼ 200 M we will be able to confidently infer that the redshift is at least z = 12, and for systems of ∼ 400 M we can infer a minimum redshift of at least z = 8. We discuss the impact that these observations will have in narrowing uncertainties on the existence of the pair-instability mass gap, and their implications on the formation of the first stellar black holes that could be seeds for the growth of supermassive black holes powering high-z quasars.

AB - We investigate the detectability of single-event coalescing black hole binaries with total mass of 100–600 M at cosmological distances (5 z 20) with the next generation of terrestrial gravitational wave observatories, specifically Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer. Our ability to observe these binaries is limited by the low-frequency performance of the detectors. Higher order multipoles of the gravitational wave signal are observable in these systems, and detection of such multipoles serves to both extend the mass range over which black hole binaries are observable and improve the recovery of their individual masses and redshift. For high-redshift systems of ∼ 200 M we will be able to confidently infer that the redshift is at least z = 12, and for systems of ∼ 400 M we can infer a minimum redshift of at least z = 8. We discuss the impact that these observations will have in narrowing uncertainties on the existence of the pair-instability mass gap, and their implications on the formation of the first stellar black holes that could be seeds for the growth of supermassive black holes powering high-z quasars.

KW - black hole physics

KW - galaxies: high-redshift

KW - gravitational waves

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85188504681&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.48550/arXiv.2310.18158

DO - 10.48550/arXiv.2310.18158

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85188504681

VL - 529

SP - 2116

EP - 2130

JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

SN - 0035-8711

IS - 3

ER -