A "Neutrino Fog" For Gravitational Waves: The Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background from Supernova Neutrino Memory
Alex Rojewski, Cecilia Lunardini
astro-ph.HE, astro-ph.CO, gr-qc
Submitted: 2026-08-03
Comments: 20 pages, 9 figures, to be submitted to PRD. Comments welcome!
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The gist: Gravitational waves originating from unresolved sources, or stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds (SGWBs), carry precious information about the physics underlying their diverse sources, and
Terminology
Abstract
Gravitational waves originating from unresolved sources, or stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds (SGWBs), carry precious information about the physics underlying their diverse sources, and represent an important target for future experimental searches. Here, we model the SGWB due to core collapse supernovae. Using an extensive collection of state-of-the-art, three-dimensional, multi-second supernova simulations, we characterize the two main components of this background: one at f about 10-2 - 1 Hz, due to anisotropic neutrino emission (the gravitational wave memory); the other at f 10 squared Hz, from the near-core matter dynamics. We find that the memory component offers the best prospects of detection, as its characteristic peak at f about 0.1 Hz is within the reach of future space-born detectors. At the peak, the energy density might be comparable to that of backgrounds from slow roll inflation and from possible cosmological relics, thus potentially impacting searches of these important signals.
Sources
- Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
- GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral
- GW190425: Observation of a Compact Binary Coalescence with Total Mass $\sim 3.4 M_{\odot}$
- GW190521: A Binary Black Hole Merger with a Total Mass of $150 ~ M_{\odot}$
- GWTC-2: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the First Half of the Third Observing Run
- GWTC-3: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the Second Part of the Third Observing Run
- Observation of gravitational waves from two neutron star-black hole coalescences
- GW231123: a Binary Black Hole Merger with Total Mass 190-265 $M_{\odot}$
- Tests of General Relativity with Binary Black Holes from the second LIGO-Virgo Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog
- GW250114: testing Hawking's area law and the Kerr nature of black holes
- Black Hole Spectroscopy and Tests of General Relativity with GW250114
- Evidence of the pair instability gap from black hole masses
- Detecting a stochastic background of gravitational radiation: Signal processing strategies and sensitivities
- Astrophysical Sources of Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background
- The astrophysical gravitational wave stochastic background
- Stochastic Gravitational Wave Backgrounds
- Cosmological Backgrounds of Gravitational Waves
- Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Backgrounds: Current Detection Efforts and Future Prospects
- GW150914: Implications for the stochastic gravitational wave background from binary black holes
- Upper Limits on the Isotropic Gravitational-Wave Background from Advanced LIGO's and Advanced Virgo's Third Observing Run
Related papers
- Numerical Studies of Accretion Flows onto a Neutron Star Engulfed in a Massive Star
- Collisionless Accretion of Finite-Angular-Momentum Plasma onto a Spinning Black Hole
- Impact of Magnetic Field Topology on Electromagnetic and Gravitational Waves from Binary Neutron Star Merger Remnants
- XRISM Resolve Spectroscopy of GX 5-1: Constraints on Iron Spectral Features in a Luminous Neutron-Star Binary
- SN 1006: A Cosmic Laboratory for Investigating Shock Acceleration Physics
- Neutrino Spectral Pinching in 3D Core-Collapse Supernovae: Late-Time Convergence, Failed-Explosion Signatures, and Viewing-Angle Dispersion