Milky way satellites shining bright in gravitational waves

Elinore Roebber, Riccardo Buscicchio, Alberto Vecchio, Christopher J. Moore, Antoine Klein, Valeriya Korol, Silvia Toonen, Davide Gerosa, Janna Goldstein, Sebastian M. Gaebel, Tyrone E. Woods

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)
89 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The population of Milky Way satellite galaxies is of great interest for cosmology, fundamental physics, and astrophysics. They represent the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function, are the most dark-matter dominated objects in the local Universe, and contain the oldest and most metal-poor stellar populations. Recent surveys have revealed around 60 satellites, but this could represent less than half of the total. Characterization of these systems remains a challenge due to their low luminosity. We consider the gravitational wave observatory LISA as a potential tool for studying these satellites through observations of their short-period double white dwarf populations. LISA will observe the entire sky without selection effects due to dust extinction, complementing optical surveys, and could potentially discover massive satellites hidden behind the disk of the galaxy.
Original languageEnglish
Article numberL15
Number of pages6
JournalAstrophysical Journal Letters
Volume894
Issue number2
Early online date7 May 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 May 2020

Bibliographical note

7 pages, 2 figures, submitted

Keywords

  • astro-ph.GA
  • astro-ph.HE
  • astro-ph.SR
  • gr-qc

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Milky way satellites shining bright in gravitational waves'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this