A detection pipeline for galactic binaries in LISA data

TL;DR

This paper presents a new detection pipeline for identifying and subtracting thousands of galactic binary signals from LISA data, enhancing the ability to study the galaxy and improve gravitational wave detection.

Contribution

The paper introduces an algorithm capable of resolving and subtracting over 10,000 galactic binary sources from simulated LISA data, aiding in foreground removal and galaxy analysis.

Findings

Successfully resolved and subtracted >10,000 sources in simulated data

Reconstructed binary positions using gravitational wave frequency evolution

Demonstrated LISA's ability to sample the entire galactic binary population

Abstract

The Galaxy is suspected to contain hundreds of millions of binary white dwarf systems, a large fraction of which will have sufficiently small orbital period to emit gravitational radiation in band for space-based gravitational wave detectors such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). LISA's main science goal is the detection of cosmological events (supermassive black hole mergers, etc.) however the gravitational signal from the galaxy will be the dominant contribution to the data -- including instrumental noise -- over approximately two decades in frequency. The catalogue of detectable binary systems will serve as an unparalleled means of studying the Galaxy. Furthermore, to maximize the scientific return from the mission, the data must be "cleansed" of the galactic foreground. We will present an algorithm that can accurately resolve and subtract >10000 of these sources from simulated data supplied by the Mock LISA Data Challenge Task Force. Using the time evolution of the gravitational wave frequency, we will reconstruct the position of the recovered binaries and show how LISA will sample the entire compact binary population in the Galaxy.