Search results for "Ligo"

Constraining Unmodeled Physics with Compact Binary Mergers from GWTC-1

2020

We present a flexible model to describe the effects of generic deviations of observed gravitational wave signals from modeled waveforms in the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors. With the detection of 11 gravitational wave events from the GWTC-1 catalog, we are able to constrain possible deviations from our modeled waveforms. In this paper we present our coherent spline model that describes the deviations, then choose to validate our model on an example phenomenological and astrophysically motivated departure in waveforms based on extreme spontaneous scalarization. We find that the model is capable of recovering the simulated deviations. By performing model comparisons we observe t…

Lepton flavor asymmetries and the mass spectrum of primordial black holes

2020

We study the influence of lepton flavour asymmetries on the formation and the mass spectrum of primordial black holes. We estimate the detectability of their mergers with LIGO/Virgo and show that the currently published gravitational wave events may actually be described by a primordial black hole spectrum from non-zero asymmetries. We suggest to use gravitational-wave astronomy as a novel tool to probe how lepton flavour asymmetric the Universe has been before the onset of neutrino oscillations.

Confusing Head-On Collisions with Precessing Intermediate-Mass Binary Black Hole Mergers

2021

We report a degeneracy between the gravitational-wave signals from quasi-circular precessing black-hole mergers and those from extremely eccentric mergers, namely head-on collisions. Performing model selection on numerically simulated signals of head-on collisions using models for quasi-circular binaries we find that, for signal-to-noise ratios of 15 and 25, typical of Advanced LIGO observations, head-on mergers with respective total masses of $M\in (125,300)M_\odot$ and $M\in (200,440)M_\odot$ would be identified as precessing quasi-circular intermediate-mass black hole binaries, located at a much larger distance. Ruling out the head-on scenario would require to perform model selection usi…

Novel signatures of dark matter in laser-interferometric gravitational-wave detectors

2019

Dark matter may induce apparent temporal variations in the physical "constants", including the electromagnetic fine-structure constant and fermion masses. In particular, a coherently oscillating classical dark-matter field may induce apparent oscillations of physical constants in time, while the passage of macroscopic dark-matter objects (such as topological defects) may induce apparent transient variations in the physical constants. In this paper, we point out several new signatures of the aforementioned types of dark matter that can arise due to the geometric asymmetry created by the beam-splitter in a two-arm laser interferometer. These new signatures include dark-matter-induced time-var…

Denoising of gravitational wave signals via dictionary learning algorithms

2016

Gravitational wave astronomy has become a reality after the historical detections accomplished during the first observing run of the two advanced LIGO detectors. In the following years, the number of detections is expected to increase significantly with the full commissioning of the advanced LIGO, advanced Virgo and KAGRA detectors. The development of sophisticated data analysis techniques to improve the opportunities of detection for low signal-to-noise-ratio events is, hence, a most crucial effort. In this paper, we present one such technique, dictionary-learning algorithms, which have been extensively developed in the last few years and successfully applied mostly in the context of image…

General Relativistic Simulations of Binary Neutron Star Mergers

2011

Binary neutron star mergers are one of the possible candidates for the central engine of short gamma‐ray bursts (GRBs) and they are also powerful sources of gravitational waves. We have used our fully general relativistic hydrodynamical code Whisky to investigate the merger of binary neutron star systems and we have in particular studied the properties of the tori that can be formed by these systems, their possible connection with the engine of short GRBs and the gravitational wave signals that detectors such as advanced LIGO will be able to detect. We have also shown how the mass of the torus varies as a function of the total mass of the neutron stars composing the binary and of their mass…

2017

On 17 August 2017, the Advanced LIGO1 and Virgo2 detectors observed the gravitational-wave event GW170817—a strong signal from the merger of a binary neutron-star system3. Less than two seconds after the merger, a γ-ray burst (GRB 170817A) was detected within a region of the sky consistent with the LIGO–Virgo-derived location of the gravitational-wave source4, 5, 6. This sky region was subsequently observed by optical astronomy facilities7, resulting in the identification8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 of an optical transient signal within about ten arcseconds of the galaxy NGC 4993. This detection of GW170817 in both gravitational waves and electromagnetic waves represents the first ‘multi-messenger’…

Gravitational waves from binary black hole mergers surrounded by scalar field clouds: Numerical simulations and observational implications

2020

We show how gravitational-wave observations of binary black hole (BBH) mergers can constrain the physical characteristics of a scalar field cloud parameterized by mass $\tilde{\mu}$ and strength $\phi_0$ that may surround them. We numerically study the inspiraling equal-mass, non-spinning BBH systems dressed in such clouds, focusing especially on the gravitational-wave signals emitted by their merger-ringdown phase. These waveforms clearly reveal that larger values of $\tilde{\mu}$ or $\phi_0$ cause bigger changes in the amplitude and frequency of the scalar-field-BBH ringdown signals. We show that the numerical waveforms of scalar-field-BBHs can be modelled as chirping sine-Gaussians, with…

Classification methods for noise transients in advanced gravitational-wave detectors II: performance tests on Advanced LIGO data

2017

The data taken by the advanced LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave detectors contains short duration noise transients that limit the significance of astrophysical detections and reduce the duty cycle of the instruments. As the advanced detectors are reaching sensitivity levels that allow for multiple detections of astrophysical gravitational-wave sources it is crucial to achieve a fast and accurate characterization of non-astrophysical transient noise shortly after it occurs in the detectors. Previously we presented three methods for the classification of transient noise sources. They are Principal Component Analysis for Transients (PCAT), Principal Component LALInference Burst (PC-LIB) and W…

Swift follow-up of IceCube triggers, and implications for the Advanced-LIGO era

2015

Between 2011 March and 2014 August Swift responded to 20 triggers from the IceCube neutrino observatory, observing the IceCube 50% confidence error circle in X-rays, typically within 5 hours of the trigger. No confirmed counterpart has been detected. We describe the Swift follow up strategy and data analysis and present the results of the campaign. We discuss the challenges of distinguishing the X-ray counterpart to a neutrino trigger from serendipitous uncatalogued X-ray sources in the error circle, and consider the implications of our results for future strategies for multi-messenger astronomy, with particular reference to the follow up of gravitational wave triggers from the advanced-era…