LISA double white dwarf binaries as Galactic accelerometers

Abstract: Galactic double white dwarf (DWD) binaries are among the guaranteed sources for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), an upcoming space-based gravitational wave (GW) detector. Most DWDs in the LISA band are far from merging and emit quasimonochromatic GWs. As these sources are distributed throughout the Milky Way, they experience different accelerations in the Galactic gravitational potential, and therefore each DWD exhibits an apparent GW frequency chirp due to differential acceleration between the source and LISA. We examine how Galactic acceleration influences parameter estimation for these sources; and investigate how LISA observations could provide insight into the distribution of matter in the Galaxy.