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LISA and the Galactic Population of Compact Binaries

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Handbook of Gravitational Wave Astronomy

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Abstract

Within the Galaxy, there are tens of millions of close white dwarf binaries that are emitting gravitational waves within the low-frequency band accessible to the space-based gravitational wave detector LISA. A few tens of thousands of these systems will be individually resolvable in frequency space, while the remainder will contribute to a confusion-limited foreground at frequencies below about 1 mHz. In addition to the close white dwarf binaries, a much smaller population of binaries containing neutron stars and black holes is also expected to lie within the LISA sensitivity band. Here, we will describe the basic design of the LISA mission with a focus on those features that allow for the detection and parameter estimation for compact binaries in the Galaxy. We will describe the standard population synthesis methods and computational techniques for dealing with dynamical formation of binaries. Following this, we will then briefly discuss the types of binaries that will comprise the Galactic population. The chapter will conclude with a discussion of data analysis, the generation of catalogs of Galactic binaries, and the expected science that can be done with these detections.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, TX, USA

    Matthew Benacquista

Authors
  1. Matthew Benacquista
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew Benacquista .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Cosimo Bambi

  2. Université Paris Denis Diderot, Paris, France

    Stavros Katsanevas

  3. Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Konstantinos D. Kokkotas

Section Editor information

  1. Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Valeria Ferrari

  2. Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Leonardo Gualtieri

  3. Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Kostantinos D. Kokkotas

  4. Theoretisch-Physikalisches Institut, Universität Jena, Jena, Germany

    Gerhard Schaefer

  5. Professor of Theoretical Physics, King's College London, University of London, London, UK

    Mairi Sakellariadou

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Benacquista, M. (2021). LISA and the Galactic Population of Compact Binaries. In: Bambi, C., Katsanevas, S., Kokkotas, K.D. (eds) Handbook of Gravitational Wave Astronomy. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4702-7_19-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4702-7_19-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-981-15-4702-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-15-4702-7

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