Probing astrophysical environment with eccentric extreme mass-ratio inspirals

TL;DR

This paper explores how eccentric extreme mass-ratio inspirals can be used to probe the properties of dark matter halos around black holes through gravitational wave signals, highlighting the importance of low-frequency detectors.

Contribution

It models the gravitational wave signatures of eccentric inspirals around black holes in dark matter halos, revealing measurable effects of dark matter distribution on gravitational wave signals.

Findings

Dark matter mass and halo radius influence gravitational wave fluxes.

Eccentricity and semi-latus rectum evolve due to dark matter environment.

Low-frequency detectors are crucial for observing these effects.

Abstract

The discovery of gravitational waves and black holes has started a new era of gravitational wave astronomy that allows us to probe the underpinning features of gravity and astrophysics in extreme environments of the universe. In this article, we investigate one such study with an extreme mass-ratio inspiral system where the primary object is a spherically symmetric static black hole immersed in a dark matter halo governed by the Hernquist density distribution. We consider the eccentric equatorial orbital motion of the steller-mass object orbiting around the primary and compute measurable effects. We examine the behaviour of dark matter mass and halo radius in generated gravitational wave fluxes and the evolution of eccentric orbital parameters -- eccentricity and semi-latus rectum. We further provide an estimate of gravitational wave dephasing and find the seminal role of low-frequency detectors in the observational prospects of such an astrophysical environment.