Lensing rates of gravitational wave signals displaying beat patterns detectable by DECIGO and B-DECIGO

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential detection of gravitational lensing-induced beat patterns in gravitational wave signals by future space-based detectors DECIGO and B-DECIGO, highlighting their importance for cosmology and astrophysics.

Contribution

It provides estimates of the number of detectable lensed gravitational wave events with beat patterns for DECIGO and B-DECIGO, emphasizing their scientific significance.

Findings

Tens to hundreds of events per year could be detected.

Black hole binaries are the dominant source of lensed signals with beat patterns.

Significant potential for cosmological and astrophysical insights from these detections.

Abstract

The coherent nature of gravitational wave emanating from a compact binary system makes it possible to detect some interference patterns in two (or more) signals registered simultaneously by the detector. Gravitational lensing effect can be used to bend trajectories of gravitational waves, which might reach the detector at the same time. Once this happens, a beat pattern may form, and can be used to obtain the luminosity distance of the source, the lens mass, and cosmological parameters such as the Hubble constant. Crucial question is how many such kind of events could be detected. In this work, we study this issue for the future space-borne detectors: DECIGO and its downscale version, B-DECIGO. It is found out that there can be a few tens to a few hundreds of lensed gravitational wave events with the beat pattern observed by DECIGO and B-DECIGO per year, depending on the evolution scenario leading to the formation of double compact objects. In particular, black hole-black hole binaries are dominating population of lensed sources in which beat patterns may reveal. However, DECIGO could also register a considerable amount of lensed signals from binary neutron stars, which might be accompanied by electromagnetic counterparts. Our results suggest that, in the future, lensed gravitational wave signal with the beat pattern could play an important role in cosmology and astrophysics.