Example: compute_dist program

This program will tell you the distance to which a binary with given redshifted masses [ $(1+z)m_1,(1+z)m_2$] can be seen with a given signal-to-noise rate in some given detector (which must be listed in the GRASP file detectors.dat). It will also tell you the redshift at that effective (luminosity) distance and the corresponding comoving volume. It uses that comoving volume to convert a given event rate density to a measured event rate.

The code specifies its various input parameters with command line flags. Thus,
compute_dist -m1 5 -m2 7 -snr 6 -d 24 -R 2.e-7 -h100 0.75
will compute the effective distance for a binary that has $(1+z)m_1 = 5M_\odot$, $(1+z)m_2 = 7M_\odot$ with signal-to-noise ratio 6 in detector 24 (the zeroth stage of enhancement at the Livingston LIGO site); and it will compute the detected event rate with an assumption that the event rate density is $2\times10^{-7}$ events per cubic megaparsec per year, in a cosmology with Hubble constant today of 75 km/sec/Mpc. If a flag or parameter is omitted, default values are used; type
compute_dist -h
to see those default values.

Includes/compute_dist.tex

Author: Scott Hughes, hughes@tapir.caltech.edu

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