Observational Constraints on Multi-messenger Sources of Gravitational Waves and High-energy Neutrinos

TL;DR

This paper assesses how current and future multi-messenger astronomy experiments can detect or constrain sources emitting both gravitational waves and high-energy neutrinos, providing insights into astrophysical burst phenomena.

Contribution

It derives observational constraints on GW and HEN burst rates and evaluates the potential of joint searches with advanced detectors to test existing astrophysical models.

Findings

Current detectors set upper limits on burst rates per galaxy.

Advanced detectors can detect or exclude several models within one year.

Joint GW+HEN searches significantly enhance detection prospects.

Abstract

It remains an open question to what extent many of the astronomical sources of intense bursts of electromagnetic radiation are also strong emitters of non-photon messengers, in particular gravitational waves (GWs) and high-energy neutrinos (HENs). Such emission would provide unique insights into the physics of the bursts; moreover some suspected classes, e.g. choked gamma-ray bursts, may in fact only be identifiable via these alternative channels. Here we explore the reach of current and planned experiments to address this question. We derive constraints on the rate of GW and HEN bursts per Milky Way equivalent (MWE) galaxy based on independent observations by the initial LIGO and Virgo GW detectors and the partially completed IceCube (40-string) HEN detector. We take into account the blue-luminosity-weighted distribution of nearby galaxies, assuming that source distribution follows the blue-luminosity distribution. We then estimate the reach of joint GW+HEN searches using advanced GW detectors and the completed cubic-km IceCube detector to probe the joint parameter space. We show that searches undertaken by advanced detectors will be capable of detecting, constraining or excluding, several existing models with one year of observation.