The gravitational wave signal from the Galactic disk population of binaries containing two compact objects

Abstract

We review the properties of Galactic binaries containing two compact objects, as derived by means of population synthesis. Using this information we calculate the gravitational wave signal of these binaries. At frequencies below f ~< 2 mHz the double white dwarf population forms an unresolved background for the low-frequency gravitational wave detector LISA. Above this limit some few thousand double white dwarfs and few tens of binaries containing neutron stars will be resolved. Of the resolved double white dwarfs ~500 have a total mass above the Chandrasekhar limit. About ~95 of these have a measurable frequency change allowing a determination of their chirp mass. We discuss the properties of the resolved systems.