A preliminary forecast for cosmological parameter estimation with gravitational-wave standard sirens from TianQin

Abstract: TianQin is a space-based gravitational-wave observatory scheduled to be launched in the 2030s. In this work, we make a preliminary forecast for the cosmological parameter estimation with the gravitational-wave standard siren observation from TianQin. We simulate the standard siren data of TianQin based on its 5-year observation after the completion of construction. In the simulation, three models for the population of massive black hole binary (MBHB), i.e., pop III, Q3nod, and Q3d, are considered to predict the event numbers of MBHB mergers. We find that: (i) among the three MBHB models, the Q3nod model can provide the tightest constraints on the cosmological parameters; (ii) TianQin's standard siren observation can effectively break the parameter degeneracies inherent in the cosmic microwave background observation; and (iii) the future standard siren observation from TianQin can significantly improve the cosmological parameter estimation under the current mainstream electromagnetic observations.