Kavli Affiliate: Peter W. Graham
| First 5 Authors: Giona Sala, Giona Sala, , ,
| Summary:
Mergers of white dwarf binaries are a possible progenitor channel for Type Ia
supernovae. While white dwarfs are abundant in the universe and relatively well
understood, their gravitational wave signals have not yet been directly
observed. In order to detect gravitational waves from merging white dwarf
binaries, a detector in the mid-band between LVK and LISA appears necessary. In
this paper, we compute and discuss the gravitational waves emitted by
inspiraling and merging white dwarf binaries, and assess their detectability
with proposed space-based atom-interferometer detectors such as MAGIS Space and
AEDGE. Gravitational waves from massive white dwarf binaries can be observed
for many years before merger, offering a unique early warning of their final
explosion. Our projections suggest that MAGIS Space could detect signals from
Type Ia supernova progenitors at least once every four years, while AEDGE could
observe at least a few hundred such events annually. The prolonged
gravitational wave emission captured by atom-interferometers provides precise
sky localisation and can allow observation of the final explosion with
electromagnetic telescopes. The combined observation with electromagnetic
radiation from the white dwarf binary coalescence could open a new pathway for
multi-messenger astronomy involving some of the brightest transient events in
the universe.
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