The Critical Role of LIGO-India in the Era of Next-generation Observatories

Abstract

We examine the role of LIGO-India in facilitating multimessenger astronomy in the era of next-generation observatories. A network with two L-shaped Cosmic Explorer (CE) detectors and one triangular Einstein Telescope (ET) would precisely localize nearly the entire annual binary neutron star (NS) merger population up to a redshift of 0.5—over 10,000 events would be localized within 10 deg2, including approximately 150 events within 0.1 deg2. Luminosity distance would be measured to within 10% for over 9000 events and within 1% for ∼100 events. Surprisingly, replacing the 20 km CE detector with LIGO-India operating at A♯ sensitivity (I♯) yields a nearly identical performance. The factor-of-5 shorter arms are offset by a fourfold increase in baseline relative to a second CE in the US, preserving localization accuracy, with over 9000 events within 10 deg2 and ∼90 events within 0.1 deg2. This configuration detects ∼6000 events with luminosity distance uncertainties under 10%, including ∼50 with under 1%. Both networks provide early-warning detections up to 10 minutes before merger, with localization areas ≤10 deg2. While I♯ enables excellent localization and early warnings, its shorter arms and narrower sensitivity band would limit its reach for other science goals, such as detecting Population III binary black hole mergers at z ≳ 10, NS mergers at z ∼ 2, or constraining cosmological parameters.