Measuring black-hole parameters and testing general relativity using gravitational-wave data from space-based interferometers

Abstract

Among the expected sources of gravitational waves for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is the capture of solar-mass compact stars by massive black holes residing in galactic centers. We construct a simple model for such a capture, in which the compact star moves freely on a circular orbit in the equatorial plane of the massive black hole. We consider the gravitational waves emitted during the late stages of orbital evolution, shortly before the orbiting mass reaches the innermost stable circular orbit. We construct a simple model for the gravitational-wave signal, in which the phasing of the waves plays the dominant role. The signal's behavior depends on a number of parameters, including $\mu$, the mass of the orbiting star, $M$, the mass of the central black hole, and $J$, the black hole's angular momentum. We calculate, using our simplified model, and in the limit of large signal-to-noise ratio, the accuracy with which these quantities can be estimated during a gravitational-wave measurement. Our simplified model also suggests a method for experimentally testing the strong-field predictions of general relativity.

ReVTeX, 16 pages, 5 postscript figures

References in corpus (10)

• Gravitational Waves from Mergin Compact Binaries: How Accurately Can One Extract the Binary's Parameters from the Inspiral Waveform?
• Observing binary inspiral in gravitational radiation: One interferometer
• Detection, Measurement and Gravitational Radiation
• Gravitational waves from inspiralling compact binaries: Parameter estimation using second-post-Newtonian waveforms
• Testing Scalar-Tensor Gravity with Gravitational-Wave Observations of Inspiralling Compact Binaries
• Gravitational radiation from a particle in circular orbit around a black hole. VI. Accuracy of the post-Newtonian expansion
• Gravitational Waves from a Particle Orbiting Around a Rotating Black Holes: Post-Newtonian Expansion
• Effect of gravitational radiation reaction on circular orbits around a spinning black hole
• Radiative Evolution of Orbits Around a Kerr Black Hole
• Gravitational Helioseismology?

Cited by in corpus (14)

• The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
• The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
• LISA Capture Sources: Approximate Waveforms, Signal-to-Noise Ratios, and Parameter Estimation Accuracy
• Measuring gravitational waves from binary black hole coalescences: I. Signal to noise for inspiral, merger, and ringdown
• The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
• Bounding the mass of the graviton using gravitional-wave observations of inspiralling compact binaries
• Two timescale analysis of extreme mass ratio inspirals in Kerr. I. Orbital Motion
• Extreme- and Intermediate-Mass Ratio Inspirals in Dynamical Chern-Simons Modified Gravity
• Computing inspirals in Kerr in the adiabatic regime. I. The scalar case
• Bayesian Bounds on Parameter Estimation Accuracy for Compact Coalescing Binary Gravitational Wave Signals
• The information content of gravitational wave harmonics in compact binary inspiral
• Probing horizon scale quantum effects with Love
• Gravitational waves from coalescing binaries and Doppler experiments
• Gravitational Radiation from Neutron Stars and Black Holes