Cosmological Physics with Black Holes (and Possibly White Dwarfs)
arXiv:0803.3627 · doi:10.1016/j.newar.2008.03.020
Abstract
The notion that microparsec-scale black holes can be used to probe gigaparsec-scale physics may seem counterintuitive, at first. Yet, the gravitational observatory LISA will detect cosmologically-distant coalescing pairs of massive black holes, accurately measure their luminosity distance and help identify an electromagnetic counterpart or a host galaxy. A wide variety of new black hole studies and a gravitational version of Hubble's diagram become possible if host galaxies are successfully identified. Furthermore, if dark energy is a manifestation of large-scale modified gravity, deviations from general relativistic expectations could become apparent in a gravitational signal propagated over cosmological scales, especially when compared to the electromagnetic signal from a same source. Finally, since inspirals of white dwarfs into massive black holes at cosmological distances may permit pre-merger localizations, we suggest that careful monitoring of these events and any associated electromagnetic counterpart could lead to high-precision cosmological measurements with LISA.
To appear in "Jean-Pierre Lasota, X-ray binaries, accretion disks and compact stars" New Astronomy Reviews, eds. M.A. Abramowicz and O. Straub (Elsevier, 2008)