Massive Black Hole Binaries as LISA Precursors in the Roman High Latitude Time Domain Survey

Zoltán Haiman, Chengcheng Xin, Tamara Bogdanović, Pau Amaro Seoane, Matteo Bonetti, J. Andrew Casey-Clyde, Maria Charisi, Monica Colpi, Jordy Davelaar, Alessandra De Rosa, Daniel J. D'Orazio, Kate Futrowsky, Poshak Gandhi, Alister W. Graham, Jenny E. Greene, Melanie Habouzit, Daryl Haggard, Kelly Holley-Bockelmann, Xin Liu, Alberto MangiagliAlessandra Mastrobuono-Battisti, Sean McGee, Chiara M. F. Mingarelli, Rodrigo Nemmen, Antonella Palmese, Delphine Porquet, Alberto Sesana, Aaron Stemo, Alejandro Torres-Orjuela, Jonathan Zrake

Research output: Working paper/PreprintPreprint

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Abstract

With its capacity to observe $\sim 10^{5-6}$ faint active galactic nuclei (AGN) out to redshift $z\approx 6$, Roman is poised to reveal a population of $10^{4-6}\, {\rm M_\odot}$ black holes during an epoch of vigorous galaxy assembly. By measuring the light curves of a subset of these AGN and looking for periodicity, Roman can identify several hundred massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) with 5-12 day orbital periods, which emit copious gravitational radiation and will inevitably merge on timescales of $10^{3-5}$ years. During the last few months of their merger, such binaries are observable with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), a joint ESA/NASA gravitational wave mission set to launch in the mid-2030s. Roman can thus find LISA precursors, provide uniquely robust constraints on the LISA source population, help identify the host galaxies of LISA mergers, and unlock the potential of multi-messenger astrophysics with massive black hole binaries.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages19
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Jun 2023

Bibliographical note

White Paper for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope's Core Community Surveys (https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/ccs_white_papers.html)
arXiv:2306.14990v1 [astro-ph.HE]

Keywords

  • astro-ph.HE
  • astro-ph.CO
  • astro-ph.GA
  • gr-qc
  • hep-th

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