One Merger, Three Bands: Multiband Detection Rates and Parameter Estimation of Stellar-mass Binary Black Hole Coalescences from Millihertz to Kilohertz
Abstract
Stellar-mass binary black holes sweep through the millihertz, decihertz, and kilohertz gravitational-wave bands before merger, making them prime targets for multiband observations. We forecast their detection rates and parameter-estimation precision for networks combining the millihertz observatories LISA, Taiji, and TianQin; the decihertz concepts LGWA, AMIGO, and AMIGO-5; and the ground-based LVK and Cosmic Explorer. Using the binary-black-hole mass and redshift distributions inferred from GWTC-4, we first estimate the single-band yields and then account explicitly for detector lifetimes and relative mission start times when calculating multiband rates. For a signal-to-noise-ratio threshold of 8, the LISA--Taiji--TianQin network is expected to detect 53.6+19.7−14.1 systems in the millihertz band, while the largest three-band yield is 23.5+8.7−6.2 events for LISA--Taiji--TianQin combined with LGWA. The yield is maximized when the decihertz observation begins approximately $0−−3\,{\rm yr}$ after the millihertz mission. Ground-informed subthreshold searches with a threshold of 5 increase the multiband yields by a factor of approximately $4−−5$, reaching 125.1+46.1−32.9 events for the same network. Fisher-matrix forecasts for a GW150914-like source show that decihertz observations provide the dominant improvement in most multiband parameter constraints, whereas millihertz data primarily sharpen the detector-frame chirp mass and sky localization. Combining the three bands improves the chirp-mass precision by orders of magnitude relative to ground-based observations alone and can reduce the localization area and coalescence-time uncertainty substantially. These results demonstrate that coordinated mission scheduling and targeted subthreshold searches are essential for realizing the scientific potential of stellar-mass multiband gravitational-wave astronomy.
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BibTeX
@misc{chen2026merger,
title = {{One Merger, Three Bands: Multiband Detection Rates and Parameter Estimation of Stellar-mass Binary Black Hole Coalescences from Millihertz to Kilohertz}},
author = {Anson Chen and Jun Zhang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.07176},
eprint = {2609.07176},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.07176},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - One Merger, Three Bands: Multiband Detection Rates and Parameter Estimation of Stellar-mass Binary Black Hole Coalescences from Millihertz to Kilohertz
AU - Anson Chen
AU - Jun Zhang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/07
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.07176
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.07176
AB - Stellar-mass binary black holes sweep through the millihertz, decihertz, and kilohertz gravitational-wave bands before merger, making them prime targets for multiband observations. We forecast their detection rates and parameter-estimation precision for networks combining the millihertz observatories LISA, Taiji, and TianQin; the decihertz concepts LGWA, AMIGO, and AMIGO-5; and the ground-based LVK and Cosmic Explorer. Using the binary-black-hole mass and redshift distributions inferred from GWTC-4, we first estimate the single-band yields and then account explicitly for detector lifetimes and relative mission start times when calculating multiband rates. For a signal-to-noise-ratio threshold of 8, the LISA--Taiji--TianQin network is expected to detect 53.6^+19.7_−14.1 systems in the millihertz band, while the largest three-band yield is 23.5^+8.7_−6.2 events for LISA--Taiji--TianQin combined with LGWA. The yield is maximized when the decihertz observation begins approximately $0−−3\,{\rm yr}$ after the millihertz mission. Ground-informed subthreshold searches with a threshold of 5 increase the multiband yields by a factor of approximately $4−−5$, reaching 125.1^+46.1_−32.9 events for the same network. Fisher-matrix forecasts for a GW150914-like source show that decihertz observations provide the dominant improvement in most multiband parameter constraints, whereas millihertz data primarily sharpen the detector-frame chirp mass and sky localization. Combining the three bands improves the chirp-mass precision by orders of magnitude relative to ground-based observations alone and can reduce the localization area and coalescence-time uncertainty substantially. These results demonstrate that coordinated mission scheduling and targeted subthreshold searches are essential for realizing the scientific potential of stellar-mass multiband gravitational-wave astronomy.
ER -