Through the lens of Sgr A$^*$: identifying strongly lensed Continuous Gravitational Waves beyond the Einstein radius [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2212.14697


Once detected, lensed gravitational waves will afford new means to probe the matter distribution in the universe, complementary to electromagnetic signals. Sources of continuous gravitational waves (CWs) are long-lived and stable, making their lensing signatures synergic to short mergers of compact binaries. CWs emitted by isolated neutron stars and lensed by Sgr A$^$, the super-massive black hole at the center of our galaxy, might be observable by the next generation of gravitational wave detectors. However, it is unknown under which circumstances these sources can be identified as lensed. Here we show that future detectors can distinguish lensed CWs and measure all parameters with precision $\sim 1-10\%$ for sources within $2-4$ Einstein radii of Sgr A$^$, depending on the source’s distance. Such a detection, which relies on the relative motion of the observer-lens-source system, can be observed for transverse velocities above 3 km/s. Therefore, the chances of observing strongly lensed neutron stars increase by one order of magnitude with respect to previous estimates. Observing strongly lensed CWs will enable novel probes of the galactic center and fundamental physics.

Read this paper on arXiv…

S. Savastano, F. Vernizzi and M. Zumalacárregui
Mon, 2 Jan 23
34/44

Comments: 12 pages, 9 figures