The impact of a primordial gravitational wave background on LISA resolvable sources

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a primordial stochastic gravitational wave background could affect LISA's ability to detect and analyze various astrophysical sources, potentially reducing detection rates and accuracy.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of the impact of a primordial SGWB on LISA's detection capabilities for multiple source types.

Findings

Strong primordial SGWB can significantly reduce MBHB detection rates.

A prominent SGWB may hinder sky localization of MBHBs.

Fainter sources like SOBHBs and GBs could become undetectable depending on SGWB properties.

Abstract

The existence of a primordial stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) is a common prediction in various models of the early Universe. Despite constraints at different frequency ranges and claims of detection in the nHz range by Pulsar Timing Arrays, the amplitude and spectral dependence of the SGWB in the mHz range remain largely unknown. Plausible models of early Universe Physics predict a wide range of SGWB amplitudes, from undetectable to exceeding the constraints from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. This paper explores the potential impact of a prominent primordial SGWB on LISA's main scientific targets. Our main analyses focuses on Massive Black Hole Binaries (MBHBs). By employing publicly available MBHB population models and state-of-the-art LISA's forecasting pipeline, we analyze the effects of the SGWB on MBHB detections. We find that the decrease in the signal-to-noise ratio induced by a strong primordial GWB can significantly reduce the number of detectable events, compromise the precision of constraints, and even hinder sky localization for some events. We also examine the impact of the SGWB on Stellar Origin Black Hole Binaries (SOBHBs) and Galactic Binaries (GBs), which are fainter sources than MBHBs. Depending on the spectral properties of the SGWB, we conclude that these sources could be either marginally affected or rendered completely undetectable. This largely unexplored aspect raises critical questions about the potential challenges posed by a prominent SGWB to LISA's astrophysical objectives, including MBHBs, SOBHBs, and GBs.