(ed.). Gravitational waves (IOP, 2001)(422s).

Expected gravitational-wave results from LISA 133Figure 10.9. LISA sensitivity and galactic sources. The instrumental and binary confusionthreshold sensitivity curves are shown for one year of observations and an S/N ratio of 5.Estimated signal strengths and frequencies for galactic binaries are indicated also.simply for the optimum direction of propagation and polarization of the wave.The change in L2 − L1 is just the amplitude h of the wave times the cosineof the angle between the two arms. Averaging over the direction of propagationand the polarization gives a factor 5 0.5 lower signal amplitude. However, at higherfrequencies, the signal is reduced by a factor that depends in a complicated way onthe direction of propagation and the polarization. The transfer function giving therms value of this reduction factor, and including the cosine of the angle betweenthe two arms, has been given by Schilling [25]. It was used in calculating the LISAthreshold sensitivity, as shown in figure 10.9 and discussed below. Essentially thesame curve has been calculated independently by Armstrong, Tinto and Estabrook[13], but for a slightly different choice of arm length.For almost all of the gravitational-wave signals LISA will see, the frequency,amplitude and polarization of the wave will be very stable, and will not changesubstantially over a few years of observation. Thus, it is desirable to plot theLISA threshold sensitivity as a curve such that there is a good chance of seeinga source in a reasonable observing time if its rms amplitude lies above the curve.To accomplish this, the threshold sensitivity curves in figures 10.9 and 10.11 areplotted as the rms amplitude of a stable signal needed in order to have a S/Nratio of five for one year of observation, when averaged over source directionand polarization. The S/N ratio of five is chosen because almost all the sourceswill be unknown from optical observations, and roughly this S/N ratio is neededto determine the reality of sources with unknown frequencies and with only