Ultra-Low Frequency Gravitational Waves from Massive Clusters at z~1

Abstract

Recent progress with pulsar timing array experiments, especially from the NANOGrav collaboration indicate that we are on the cusp of detecting significant signals from the inspiral of super-massive black hole binaries (SMBHB). While recent analysis has focused on nearby galaxies as possible sources of the loudest signals, we show that mergers in identified clusters at z~1 can have larger strain amplitudes. We make an estimate comparing the nearby 2MASS redshift survey galaxy sample with the more distant MaDCoWS cluster sample, showing that the latter might be expected to contribute more, and louder, gravitational wave events. Thus the first individual source detections may well be from ultra-massive BH in clusters at z~1, rather than nearby galaxies.

arXiv comment7 pages, to Appear in the Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (13)

• Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
• The NANOGrav 12.5-year Data Set: Search For An Isotropic Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background
• The 2MASS Redshift Survey - Description and Data Release
• The effect of metallicity on the detection prospects for gravitational waves
• Expected properties of the first gravitational wave signal detected with pulsar timing arrays
• The Black Hole Mass - Spheroid Luminosity relation
• The Local Nanohertz Gravitational-Wave Landscape From Supermassive Black Hole Binaries
• Scattering experiments meet N-body I: a practical recipe for the evolution of massive black hole binaries in stellar environments
• The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey. I: Survey Overview and a Catalog of >2000 Galaxy Clusters at z~1
• PS1-STRM: Neural network source classification and photometric redshift catalogue for PS1 $3\pi$ DR1
• The NANOGrav 11yr Data Set: Limits on Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in Galaxies within 500Mpc
• Unveiling the hosts of parsec-scale massive black hole binaries: morphology and electromagnetic signatures
• Future merger of the Milky Way with the Andromeda galaxy and the fate of their supermassive black holes

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Exploring Proxies for the Supermassive Black Hole Mass Function: Implications for Pulsar Timing Arrays
• Host Galaxy Demographics Of Individually Detectable Supermassive Black-hole Binaries with Pulsar Timing Arrays