Detectability of a spatial correlation between stellar-mass black hole mergers and active galactic nuclei in the local Universe
Detectability of a spatial correlation between stellar-mass black hole mergers and active galactic nuclei in the local Universe
复制标题
恒星质量黑洞合并与当地宇宙中活动星系核之间空间相关性的可检测性
DOI：
10.1093/mnras/stac1346
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发表时间：
2022
影响因子：
4.8
通讯作者：
R. Buscicchio
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Niccolò Veronesi;E. Rossi;S. Velzen;R. Buscicchio
由LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA（LVK）合作通过引力波（GW）检测到的二元黑洞（BBH）合并的起源仍然存在争议。一个根本的原因是我们对它们的宿主环境的无知，因为事件的局部体积的典型大小可以很容易地包含数千个星系。围绕这一点的一个策略是利用统计方法来评估这些合并和天体物理学动机的宿主星系类型之间的空间相关性，例如活动星系核（AGN）。我们使用李克维比方法来推断GW-AGN连接的程度到z = 0.2。我们模拟BBH合并，其组件的质量是从一个现实的分布的黑洞（BH）的底层人口采样。这些事件的本地化卷计算假设两个不同的干涉网络配置。这些对应于第三次（O3）和即将到来的第四次（O 4）LVK观测运行的配置。我们的结论是，在z ≤ 0.2的第三次观测运行中检测到的13个BBH合并不足以以3σ的显著性拒绝GW和AGN之间没有比$\approximat 10^{44.3}\rm {s}^{-1}$更亮的联系的假设，其数密度高于10−4.75Mpc−3。然而，13次探测足以拒绝这种无连接假设，当考虑更罕见的AGN类别时，热光度大于$\approximat 10^{45.5}\rm {erg}\ \rm {s}^{-1}$。我们估计，O 4的结果将有可能使我们能够测试分数的贡献，总BBH合并人口的任何光度高于80美元的活动星系核。
The origin of the Binary Black Hole (BBH) mergers detected through Gravitational Waves (GWs) by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) collaboration remains debated. One fundamental reason is our ignorance of their host environment, as the typical size of an event’s localization volume can easily contain thousands of galaxies. A strategy around this is to exploit statistical approaches to assess the spatial correlation between these mergers and astrophysically motivated host galaxy types, such as Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). We use a Likelihood ratio method to infer the degree of GW-AGN connection out to z = 0.2. We simulate BBH mergers whose components’ masses are sampled from a realistic distribution of the underlying population of Black Holes (BHs). Localization volumes for these events are calculated assuming two different interferometric network configurations. These correspond to the configuration of the third (O3) and of the upcoming fourth (O4) LVK observing runs. We conclude that the 13 BBH mergers detected during the third observing run at z ≤ 0.2 are not enough to reject with a 3σ significance the hypothesis according to which there is no connection between GW and AGN more luminous than $\approx 10^{44.3}\rm {erg}\ \rm {s}^{-1}$, that have number density higher than 10−4.75Mpc−3. However, 13 detections are enough to reject this no-connection hypothesis when rarer categories of AGN are considered, with bolometric luminosities greater than $\approx 10^{45.5}\rm {erg}\ \rm {s}^{-1}$. We estimate that O4 results will potentially allow us to test fractional contributions to the total BBH merger population from AGN of any luminosity higher than $80{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$.