LISA Signal Confusion Noise
LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) is the proposed space based gravitational wave detector. It will be able to detect gravitational waves in the low frequency range between 10-5 - 10-1 Hz. This makes EMRIs (Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals) a prime candidate for LISA. EMRIs occur whenever a compact object (~10 M☉ ) orbits a MBH (Massive Black Hole)(105 M☉ - 108 M☉ ) These orbits typically begin as highly eccentric and only emit gravitational waves whenever the compact object (CO) approaches periapsis, the point of closest approach to the central black hole. Because these orbits are so long period, and with such high eccentricity it might be assumed that they would be too low frequency to be detectable by LISA. However, when these very highly eccentric (e ~ 1) signals approach the MBH they emit a burst of gravitational radiation. As they inspiral further, these bursts will repeat over 10s of thousands of cycles. These repeated bursts of gravitational wave energy are called the gravitational wave peep and the peeps are a much higher frequency counterpart to the overall signal that is firmly in the LISA bandwith. The goal of this study is to create a background of gravitational wave peeps out to a redshift of 3 to determine how such a background may impact otherwise detectable sources by LISA.
