Inferring properties of dark galactic halos using strongly lensed gravitational waves

TL;DR

This paper explores how combining gravitational wave data with electromagnetic observations can improve the inference of dark galactic halo properties through strong lensing effects, especially for complex lens models.

Contribution

It introduces a method for joint GW and EM data analysis to better estimate lens parameters, addressing degeneracies in complex lens models.

Findings

Simple spherical models allow accurate GW-only lens parameter recovery.

Multiple GW images plus EM data are needed for non-symmetric models.

Combining GW and EM observations enhances lens parameter inference.

Abstract

Gravitational waves (GWs) can be deflected, similarly to electromagnetic (EM) waves, by massive objects through the phenomenon of gravitational lensing. The importance of gravitational lensing for GW astronomy is becoming increasingly apparent in the GW detection era, in which nearly 100 events have already been detected. As current ground-based interferometers reach their design sensitivities, it is anticipated that these detectors may observe a few GW signals that are strongly lensed by the dark halos of intervening galaxies or galaxy clusters. Analysing strong lensing effects on GW signals is, thus, becoming important to understand the lens' properties and correctly infer the intrinsic GW source parameters. However, one cannot accurately infer lens parameters for complex lens models with only GW observations because there are strong degeneracies between the parameters of lensed waveforms. In this paper, we discuss how to conduct parameter estimation of strongly lensed GW signals and infer the lens parameters using additional EM information, including the lens galaxy's axis ratio and the GW source-hosting galaxy's lensed images. We find that for simple spherically symmetric lens models, the lens parameters can be well recovered using only GW information. On the other hand, recovering the lens parameters requires systems in which four or more GW images are detected with additional EM observations for non-axially symmetric lens models. Combinations of GW and EM observations can further improve the inference of the lens parameters.