A Dark Siren Measurement of the Hubble Constant with the LIGO/Virgo Gravitational Wave Event GW190412 and DESI Galaxies

Abstract

We present a measurement of the Hubble Constant H 0 using the gravitational wave event GW190412, an asymmetric binary black hole merger detected by LIGO/Virgo, as a dark standard siren. This event does not have an electromagnetic counterpart, so we use the statistical standard siren method and marginalize over potential host galaxies from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey. GW190412 is well-localized to 12 deg2 (90% credible interval), so it is promising for a dark siren analysis. The dark siren value for km s−1 Mpc−1, with a posterior shape that is consistent with redshift overdensities. When combined with the bright standard siren measurement from GW170817 we recover km s−1 Mpc−1, consistent with both early and late-time Universe measurements of H 0. This work represents the first standard siren analysis performed with DESI data, and includes the most complete spectroscopic sample used in a dark siren analysis to date.