Massive black hole binaries in LISA: constraining cosmological parameters at high redshifts

Abstract

One of the primary scientific objectives of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is to probe the expansion of the Universe using gravitational wave observations. Indeed, as gravitational waves from the coalescence of a massive black hole binary (MBHB) carry direct information of the luminosity distances, an accompanying electromagnetic (EM) counterpart can be used to determine the redshift. This method of \(bright\) \(sirens\) enables one to build a gravitational Hubble diagram to high redshift when applied to LISA. In this work, we forecast the ability of LISA-detected MBHB bright sirens to constrain cosmological models. As the expected EM emission from MBHBs can be detected up to redshift \(z\sim 7\) with future astronomical facilities, we focus on the ability of LISA to constrain the expansion of the Universe at \(z\sim 2-3\), a poorly charted epoch in cosmography. We find that a model-independent approach to cosmology based on a spline interpolation of the luminosity distance-redshift relation, can constrain the Hubble parameter at \(z\sim2-3\) with a relative precision of at least \(10\%\).