Binary number

Universe

Einstein Telescope

Physics

Omega

LIGO

Population

Black hole (networking)

Link-state routing protocol

Demography

Computer science

Astronomy

Astrophysics

Quantum mechanics

Mathematics

Routing protocol

Sociology

Computer network

Binary black hole

Arithmetic

Routing (electronic design automation)

Primordial black hole

Gravitational wave

Gravitational wave background

Physical Review Letters

The merger rate of black hole binaries inferred from the detections in the first Advanced LIGO science run, implies that a stochastic background produced by a cosmological population of mergers will likely mask the primordial gravitational-wave background. Here we demonstrate that the next generation of ground-based detectors, such as the Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer, will be able to observe binary black hole mergers throughout the universe with sufficient efficiency that the confusion background can potentially be subtracted to observe the primordial background at the level of $\Omega_{\mathrm{GW}} \simeq 10^{-13}$ after five years of observation.

Digging Deeper: Observing Primordial Gravitational Waves below the Binary-Black-Hole-Produced Stochastic Background