GW150914: Implications for the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Binary Black Holes

LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Ilya Mandel, Alberto Vecchio, Andreas Freise, John Veitch, Walter Del Pozzo, Haixing Miao, Will Farr, Christopher Berry, Conor Mow-Lowry, Carl-Johan Haster, Hannah Middleton, Edward Thomas, Anna Green, Haoyu Wang, Serena Vinciguerra, Daniel Töyrä

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

195 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The LIGO detection of the gravitational wave transient GW150914, from the inspiral and merger of two black holes with masses ≳30M⊙, suggests a population of binary black holes with relatively high mass. This observation implies that the stochastic gravitational-wave background from binary black holes, created from the incoherent superposition of all the merging binaries in the Universe, could be higher than previously expected. Using the properties of GW150914, we estimate the energy density of such a background from binary black holes. In the most sensitive part of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo band for stochastic backgrounds (near 25 Hz), we predict ΩGW(f=25  Hz)=1.1+2.7−0.9×10−9 with 90% confidence. This prediction is robustly demonstrated for a variety of formation scenarios with different parameters. The differences between models are small compared to the statistical uncertainty arising from the currently poorly constrained local coalescence rate. We conclude that this background is potentially measurable by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors operating at their projected final sensitivity.
Original languageEnglish
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume116
Issue number13-1 April 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Mar 2016

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