Localization Capabilities of Next Generation Gravitational Wave Detectors

Abstract

Localization of gravitational wave sources is extremely important for any type of multimessenger followup. Recent studies have shown that in the era of next-generation detectors, a handful of such sources can be localized even using only one detector. This is possible due to modulations of the signal due to the long arms of the detector and the
apparent motion of the source due to the rotation of the Earth. However, those studies include only the dominant quadrupolar mode while such signals might have significant contributions from higher modes. Higher modes with an azimuthal number greater than 2 also last longer in the band making the rotation of Earth even more important. We study the role of these higher modes in localization.