The Total Merger Rate of Compact Object Binaries In The Local Universe

TL;DR

This paper estimates the local universe's merger rates for various compact binaries using population synthesis, highlighting the influence of stellar environments and initial cluster mass fractions on gravitational-wave detection prospects.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive merger rate estimates considering both field and cluster populations, emphasizing the impact of initial cluster mass fraction on detection rates.

Findings

Field populations dominate neutron star and neutron star-black hole merger rates.

Dense stellar clusters significantly enhance black hole binary mergers.

Detection rates vary from ~20 to 300 per year depending on cluster mass fraction.

Abstract

Using a population synthesis approach, we compute the total merger rate in the local Universe for double neutron stars, double black holes, and black hole -- neutron star binaries. These compact binaries are the prime source candidates for gravitational-wave detection by LIGO and VIRGO. We account for mergers originating from field populations and from dense stellar clusters. For both populations we use the same treatment of stellar evolution. Our results indicate that the merger rates of double neutron stars and black hole -- neutron star binaries are strongly dominated by field populations, while merging black hole binaries are formed much more effectively in dense stellar clusters. The overall merger rate of double compact objects depends sensitively on the (largely unknown) initial mass fraction contained in dense clusters f_cl. For f_cl < 0.0001, the Advanced LIGO detection rate will be dominated by field populations of double neutron star mergers, with a small but significant number of detections ~20 yr^-1. However for a higher mass fraction in clusters, f_cl > 0.001, the detection rate will be dominated by numerous mergers of double black holes originating from dense clusters, and it will be considerably higher, ~25 - 300 yr^-1. In addition, we show that, once mergers of double black holes are detected, it is easy to differentiate between systems formed in the field and in dense clusters, since the chirp mass distributions are strikingly different. Finally, we point out that there may exist a population of merging black hole binaries in intergalactic space.