2013MNRAS.431..882Z

This paper reports a comprehensive study on the gravitational wave (GW) background from compact binary coalescences. We consider in our calculations newly available observation-based neutron star and black hole mass distributions and complete analytical waveforms that include post-Newtonian amplitude corrections. Our results show that: (i) post-Newtonian effects cause a small reduction in the GW background signal; (ii) below 100 Hz the background depends primarily on the local coalescence rate r0 and the average chirp mass and is independent of the chirp mass distribution; (iii) the effects of cosmic star formation rates and delay times between the formation and merger of binaries are linear below 100 Hz and can be represented by a single parameter within a factor of ∼ 2; (iv) a simple power-law model of the energy density parameter ΩGW(f) ∼ f2/3 up to 50-100 Hz is sufficient to be used as a search template for ground-based interferometers. In terms of detection prospects of this background signal, we show that: (i) detection (a signal-to-noise ratio of 3) within one year of observation by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors (H1-L1) requires a coalescence rate of r0 = 3(0.2)Mpc-3Myr-1 for binary neutron stars (binary black holes); (ii) this limit on r0 could be reduced threefold for two co-located and co-aligned detectors, whereas the currently proposed worldwide network of advanced instruments gives only ∼ 30 percent improvement in detectability; (iii) the improved sensitivity of the planned Einstein Telescope allows not only confident detection of the background but also the high-frequency components of the spectrum to be measured, possibly enabling rate evolutionary histories and mass distributions to be probed. Finally, we show that sub-threshold binary neutron star merger events produce a strong foreground, which could be an issue for future terrestrial stochastic searches of primordial GWs.