Probing the Fermi-LAT GeV excess with gravitational waves

Abstract

If the gamma-ray excess towards the inner Galaxy (GCE) detected in Fermi-LAT data is due to millisecond pulsars (MSPs), one expects an associated gravitational wave (GW) signal, whose intensity exceeds the disk MSP population emission by an order of magnitude. We compute the expected GW counterpart of the bulge MSP population based on fits of the GCE, and estimate the sensitivity reach of current and future terrestrial GW detectors. The bounds on the average population ellipticity $\epsilon$ are competitive with the existing ones derived by LIGO/Virgo towards known MSPs. With a 10-year data taking in current LIGO/Virgo configuration, one would detect a signal at the level $\epsilon \simeq 10^{-7}$, while $\epsilon \simeq 10^{-8}$ would be attainable with a similar data taking period with a third generation GW detector. This sensitivity should be sufficient for crucial diagnostics on the GCE interpretation in terms of MSPs.

6 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Gravitational wave probes of particle dark matter: a review
• Targeted search for the stochastic gravitational-wave background from the galactic millisecond pulsar population
• Probing the pulsar explanation of the Galactic-Center GeV excess using continuous gravitational-wave searches
• On the Gravitational Wave Counterpart to a Gamma-ray Galactic Center Signal from Millisecond Pulsars