ESTIMATING THE DETECTABLE RATE OF CAPTURE OF STELLAR MASS BLACK-HOLESBY MASSIVE CENTRAL BLACK-HOLES IN NORMAL GALAXIES

The capture and subsequent inspiral of stellar mass black holes on ecc entric orbits by central massive black holes is one of the more intere sting likely sources of gravitational radiation detectable by LISA. We estimate the rate of observable events and the associated uncertainti es. A moderately favourable mass function could provide many detectabl e bursts each year, and a detection of at least one burst per year is very likely given our current understanding of the populations in core s of normal spiral galaxies.