Gravitational Radiation from Black Hole Binaries in Globular Clusters

A populations of stellar mass black hole binaries may exist in globular clusters. The dynamics of globular cluster evolution imply that there may be at most one black hole binary is a globular cluster. The population of binaries are expected to have orbital periods greater than a few hours and to have a thermal distribution of eccentricities. In the LISA band, the gravitational wave signal from these binaries will consist of several of the higher harmonics of the orbital frequency. A Monte Carlo simulation of the galactic globular cluster system indicates that LISA will detect binaries in 10% of the clusters with an angular resolution sufficient to identify the host cluster of the binary. Submitted to: Class. Quantum Grav. PACS numbers: 04.30.Db, 95.10.Ce, 95.30.Sf, 95.55.Ym, 97.60.Lf, 98.20.Gm Black Hole Binaries in Globular Clusters 2