Short GRB and binary black hole standard sirens as a probe of dark energy

Abstract

Observations of the gravitational radiation from well-localized, inspiraling compact object binaries can measure absolute source distances with high accuracy. When coupled with an independent determination of redshift through an electromagnetic counterpart, these standard sirens can provide an excellent probe of the expansion history of the Universe and the dark energy. Short gamma-ray bursts, if produced by merging neutron star binaries, would be standard sirens with known redshifts detectable by ground-based GW networks such as LIGO-II, Virgo, and AIGO. Depending upon the collimation of these GRBs, a single year of observation of their gravitational waves can measure the Hubble constant to about 2%. When combined with measurement of the absolute distance to the last scattering surface of the cosmic microwave background, this determines the dark energy equation of state parameter w to 9%. Similarly, supermassive binary black hole inspirals will be standard sirens detectable by LISA. Depending upon the precise redshift distribution, 100 sources could measure w at the 4% level.