Ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves from individual supermassive black hole binaries as standard sirens postprint

Abstract: Ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves (GWs) generated by individual inspiraling supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) in the centers of galaxies may be detected by pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) in the future. These GW signals encoding absolute cosmic distances can serve as bright and dark sirens, having potential to be developed into a precise cosmological probe. Here we show that an SKA-era PTA consisting of 100 millisecond pulsars may observe about 20 bright sirens and 90 dark sirens during a 10-year observation. The bright sirens, together with the CMB data, have comparable capabilities to current mainstream data for measuring the equation of state of dark energy. The dark sirens could make the measurement precision of the Hubble constant far beyond the standard of precision cosmology. Our results indicate that ultra-low-frequency GWs from individual SMBHBs are of great significance in exploring the nature of dark energy and measuring the Hubble constant.