Mapping the Universe Expansion: Enabling Percent-level Measurements of the Hubble Constant with a Single Binary Neutron-star Merger Detection

The joint observation of the gravitational-wave (GW) and electromagnetic (EM) signal from the binary neutron-star merger GW170817 allowed for a new independent measurement of the Hubble constant H (0), albeit with an uncertainty of about 15% at 1 sigma. Observations of similar sources with a network of future detectors will allow for more precise measurements of H (0). These, however, are currently largely limited by the intrinsic degeneracy between the luminosity distance and the inclination of the source in the GW signal. We show that the higher-order modes in gravitational waves can be used to break this degeneracy in astrophysical parameter estimation in both the inspiral and post-merger phases of a neutron star merger. We show that for systems at distances similar to GW170817, this method enables percent-level measurements of H (0) with a single detection. This would permit the study of time variations and spatial anisotropies of H (0) with unprecedented precision. We investigate how different network configurations affect measurements of H (0), and discuss the implications in terms of science drivers for the proposed 2.5- and third-generation GW detectors. Finally, we show that the precision of H (0) measured with these future observatories will be solely limited by redshift measurements of EM counterparts.

Automated summary

The joint observation of gravitational-wave and electromagnetic signal from the binary neutron star merger GW170817 provided a new independent measurement of the Hubble constant, although with some uncertainty. Future observations of similar sources with a network of detectors could improve the precision of the measurements, but are currently hindered by degeneracies in the gravitational-wave signal.