Note: When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher.
Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
What is a DOI Number?
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.
-
Inferring the Intermediate-mass Black Hole Number Density from Gravitational-wave Lensing StatisticsAbstract The population properties of intermediate-mass black holes remain largely unknown, and understanding their distribution could provide a missing link in the formation of supermassive black holes and galaxies. Gravitational-wave observations can help fill in the gap from stellar mass black holes to supermassive black holes with masses between ∼100–104M⊙. In our work, we propose a new method for examining lens populations through lensing statistics of gravitational waves, here focusing on inferring the number density of intermediate-mass black holes through hierarchical Bayesian inference. Simulating ∼200 lensed gravitational-wave signals, we find that existing gravitational-wave observatories at their design sensitivity could either constrain the number density of 106Mpc−3within a factor of 10, or place an upper bound of ≲104Mpc−3if the true number density is 103Mpc−3. More broadly, our method leaves room for incorporation of additional lens populations, providing a general framework for probing the population properties of lenses in the universe.more » « less
An official website of the United States government
