Detectability and parameter estimation of GWTC-3 events with LISA

TL;DR

This paper evaluates LISA's capability to detect and improve parameter estimation of GWTC-3 gravitational wave events, highlighting the potential benefits of multiband observations despite uncertainties in source populations.

Contribution

It provides an assessment of LISA's ability to detect and analyze GWTC-3 events, including archival searches and parameter improvement potential.

Findings

Detection of events other than GW150914 by LISA is unlikely.

LISA can significantly improve source parameter estimates when combined with ground-based data.

Even low SNR detections by LISA can enhance understanding of source properties.

Abstract

Multiband observations of coalescing stellar-mass black holes binaries could deliver valuable information on the formation of those sources and potential deviations from General Relativity. Some of these binaries might be first detected by the space-based detector LISA and, then, several years later, observed with ground-based detectors. Due to large uncertainties in astrophysical models, it is hard to predict the population of such binaries that LISA could observe. In this work, we assess the ability of LISA to detect the events of the third catalogue of gravitational wave sources released by the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA collaboration. We consider the possibility of directly detecting the source with LISA and performing archival searches in the LISA data stream, after the event has been observed with ground-based detectors. We also assess how much could LISA improve the determination of source parameters. We find that it is not guaranteed that any event other than GW150914 would have been detected. Nevertheless, if any event is detected by LISA, even with a very low signal-to-noise ratio, the measurement of source parameters would improve by combining observations of LISA and ground based detectors, in particular for the chirp mass.