Intermediate and Extreme Mass-Ratio Inspirals -- Astrophysics, Science Applications and Detection using LISA

Abstract

Black hole binaries with extreme ($\gtrsim 10^4:1$) or intermediate ($\sim 10^2-10^4:1$) mass ratios are among the most interesting gravitational wave sources that are expected to be detected by the proposed Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. These sources have the potential to tell us much about astrophysics, but are also of unique importance for testing aspects of the general theory of relativity in the strong field regime. Here we discuss these sources from the perspectives of astrophysics, data analysis, and applications to testing general relativity, providing both a description of the current state of knowledge and an outline of some of the outstanding questions that still need to be addressed. This review grew out of discussions at a workshop in September 2006 hosted by the Albert Einstein Institute in Golm, Germany.

47 pages, 9 figures, review accepted for publication in Classical and Quantum Gravity (needs revtex4.cls, included) after minor changes

References in corpus (4)

• Gravitational wave snapshots of generic extreme mass ratio inspirals
• Gravitational radiation reaction and inspiral waveforms in the adiabatic limit
• Modeling kicks from the merger of non-precessing black-hole binaries
• Computing inspirals in Kerr in the adiabatic regime. I. The scalar case

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Precision of Hubble constant derived using black hole binary absolute distances and statistical redshift information
• Ergoregion instability of ultra-compact astrophysical objects
• Observable Properties of Orbits in Exact Bumpy Spacetimes
• The influence of the hydrodynamic drag from an accretion torus on extreme mass-ratio inspirals
• Relativistic dynamical friction in a collisional fluid
• Improved time-frequency analysis of extreme-mass-ratio inspiral signals in mock LISA data
• Spacetime Encodings I- A Spacetime Reconstruction Problem
• Time-frequency analysis of extreme-mass-ratio inspiral signals in mock LISA data
• Stellar Relaxation Processes Near the Galactic Massive Black Hole
• Gravitational Radiation from Neutron Stars and Black Holes