Coalescing binaries and Doppler experiments

Abstract

We discuss the sensitivity of the CASSINI experiments to gravitational waves emitted by the in-spiral of compact binaries. We show that the maximum distance reachable by the instrument is $\sim 100$ Mpc. In particular, CASSINI can detect massive black hole binaries with chirp mass $\simgt 10^6 \Ms$ in the Virgo Cluster with signal-to-noise ratio between 5 and 30 and possible compact objects of mass $\simgt 30 \Ms$ orbiting the massive black hole that our Galactic Centre is likely to harbour.