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    Constructing a gravitational wave analysis pipeline for extremely large-mass-ratio inspirals

    Tian-Xiao Wang1, Yan Wang2,*, Alejandro Torres-Orjuela3, Yi-Ren Lin4, Hui-Min Fan5, Verónica Vázquez-Aceves4, and Yi-Ming Hu1,†

    • 1MOE Key Laboratory of TianQin Mission, TianQin Research Center for Gravitational Physics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Frontiers Science Center for TianQin, CNSA Research Center for Gravitational Waves, Sun Yat-sen University (Zhuhai Campus), Zhuhai 519082, China
    • 2National Gravitation Laboratory, MOE Key Laboratory of Fundamental Physical Quantities Measurements, Department of Astronomy and School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
    • 3Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications, Beijing 101408, China
    • 4The Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
    • 5Department of Physics, Hebei Key Laboratory of High-precision Computation and Application of Quantum Field Theory, Hebei Research Center of the Basic Discipline for Computational Physics, Hebei University, Baoding, 071002, China

    • *Contact author: ywang12@hust.edu
    • †Contact author: huyiming@sysu.edu.cn

    Phys. Rev. D 114, 023005 – Published 6 July, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/3hx6-7zyb

    Abstract

    Extremely large-mass-ratio inspirals (XMRIs), consisting of a brown dwarf orbiting a supermassive black hole, emit long-lived and nearly monochromatic gravitational waves in the millihertz band and constitute a promising probe of strong-field gravity and black-hole properties. However, dedicated data-analysis pipelines for XMRI signals have not yet been established. In this work, we develop, for the first time, a hierarchical semicoherent search pipeline for XMRIs tailored to space-based gravitational wave detectors, with a particular focus on the TianQin mission. The pipeline combines a semicoherent multiharmonic F statistic with particle swarm optimization and incorporates a novel eccentricity estimation method based on the relative power distribution among harmonics. We validate the performance of the pipeline using simulated TianQin data for a Galactic Center XMRI composed of a brown dwarf and Sgr A*. For a three-month observation, the pipeline successfully recovers the signal and achieves high-precision parameter estimation, including fractional uncertainties of 2.0×10−6 in the orbital frequency, 2.9×10−4 in the eccentricity, 2.5×10−5 in the black-hole mass, and 5.6×10−4 in the black-hole spin. Our framework establishes a practical foundation for future XMRI searches with space-based detectors and highlights the potential of XMRIs as precision probes of stellar dynamics and strong-field gravity in the vicinity of supermassive black holes.

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