Carlo Enrico Petrillo, Alexander Dietz
Recent observational and theoretical work increase the confidence that
short-duration gamma-ray bursts are created by the coalescence of compact
objects, like neutron stars and/or black holes. From the observation of
short-duration gamma-ray bursts with know distances it is possible to infer
their rate in the local universe, and draw conclusions for the rate of compact
binary coalescences. Although the sample of such events with reliable redshift
measurements is very small, we try to model the distribution with a luminosity
function and a rate function. The analysis performed with a sample of 15 short
gamma-ray bursts yields a range for the merger rate of 75 to 660
Gpc$^{-3}$yr$^{-1}$, with a median rate of 180 Gpc$^{-3}$yr$^{-1}$. This result
is in general agreement with similar investigations using gamma-ray burst
observations. Furthermore, we estimate the number of coincident observations of
gravitational wave signals with short gamma-ray bursts in the advanced detector
era. Assuming each short gamma-ray burst is created by a double neutron star
merger, the expected rate of coincident observations is 0.1 to 1.1 per year,
when assuming each short gamma-ray burst is created by a merger of a neutron
star and a black hole, this rate becomes 0.4 to 4.0 per year.
View original:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1202.0804
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