To calculate a realistic detection rate of binary mergers the distribution of galaxies should be taken into
account within the volume bounded by the distance range of the detector (see, for example, the earlier
attempt to take into account only bright galaxies from Tully’s catalog of nearby galaxies in [223], and the
use of LEDA database of galaxies to estimate the detection rate of supernova explosions [19]). However, not
only the mass and type of a given galaxy, but also the star formation rate and, better, the history of the
star formation rate in that galaxy (since the binary merger rate in galaxies strongly evolves with time [231])
are needed to estimate the expected detection rate . But this is a tremendous problem – even the
sample of galaxies (mostly, dwarfs) within the Local Volume (
8 Mpc) is only 70% – 80%
complete [187], and the number of new nearby galaxies continues to increase. So to assess the
merger rate from a large volume based on the Galactic values, the best one can do at present
appears to be using formulas like Equation (4
) given earlier in Section 2.2. This, however, adds
another factor two of uncertainty in the estimates. Clearly, a more accurate treatment of the
transition from Galactic rates to larger volumes with an account of the galaxy distribution is
required.
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