Astron. Astrophys. 358, 417-424 (2000)

4. Discussion and conclusions

The CVs produce GWs which could in principle be detected by the LISA antenna, since CVs produce low frequency GWs in the frequency band where LISA is sensitive. Due to the fact that a positive detection of a CV by the LISA antenna might be improved once we know the sources beforehand we compile in the present study a catalogue of CVs, for which we know at least their orbital periods and distances.

We argue that the present study is of interest since in the literature one has not found a systematic identification of possible detectable GW CVs, since an early study made by Douglass & Braginsky (1979) twenty years ago, and also a preliminary study by Aguiar et al. (1998). We have been able to catalogue approximately 160 CVs, from which a reasonable part of them could be detected once the LISA antenna become operative.

We argue that it would be of interest whether other groups performed a similar study for the other binary systems which produce low frequency GWs in the frequency band where the LISA antenna is sensitive.

It is worth mentioning that a positive detection of a binary system through its gravitational emission, with some help of electromagnetic data observations, could lead one to know all the parameters related to the binary system, namely, the masses of the stars, their distances to the earth, the period of the system and their orientation angles.

© European Southern Observatory (ESO) 2000

Online publication: June 8, 2000
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