We estimate the stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background signal from the field population of coalescing binary stellar mass black holes (BHs) throughout the Universe. This study is motivated by recent observations of BH-Wolf-Rayet star systems and by new estimates in the metallicity abundances of star forming galaxies that imply BH-BH systems are more common than previously assumed. Using recent analytical results of the inspiral-merger-ringdown waveforms for coalescing binary BH systems, we estimate the resulting stochastic GW background signal. Assuming average quantities for the single source energy emissions, we explore the parameter space of chirp mass and local rate density required for detection by advanced and third generation interferometric GW detectors. For an average chirp mass of 8.7$M_{\odot}$, we find that detection through 3 years of cross-correlation by two advanced detectors will require a rate density, $r_0 \geq 0.5 \rm{Mpc}^{-3} \rm{Myr}^{-1}$. Combining data from multiple pairs of detectors can reduce this limit by up to 40%. Investigating the full parameter space we find that detection could be achieved at rates $r_0 \sim 0.1 \rm{Mpc}^{-3} \rm{Myr}^{-1}$ for populations of coalescing binary BH systems with average chirp masses of $\sim 15M_{\odot}$ which are predicted by recent studies of BH-Wolf-Rayet star systems. While this scenario is at the high end of theoretical estimates, cross-correlation of data by two Einstein Telescopes could detect this signal under the condition $r_0 \geq 10^{-3} \rm{Mpc}^{-3} \rm{Myr}^{-1}$. Such a signal could potentially mask a primordial GW background signal of dimensionless energy density, $Ω_{\rm{GW}}\sim 10^{-10}$, around the (1--500) Hz frequency range.
Coalescing binary systems, consisting of two collapsed objects, are among the most promising sources of high frequency gravitational waves signals detectable, in principle, by ground-based interferometers. Binary systems of Neutron Star or Black Hole/Neutron Star mergers should also give rise to short Gamma Ray Bursts, a subclass of Gamma Ray Bursts. Short-hard-Gamma Ray Bursts might thus provide a powerful way to infer the merger rate of two-collapsed object binaries. Under the hypothesis that most short Gamma Ray Bursts originate from binaries of Neutron Star or Black Hole/Neutron Star merge…
Future ground-based and space-borne interferometric gravitational-wave detectors may capture between tens and thousands of binary coalescence events per year. There is a significant and growing body of work on the estimation of astrophysically relevant parameters, such as masses and spins, from the gravitational-wave signature of a single event. This paper introduces a robust Bayesian framework for combining the parameter estimates for multiple events into a parameter distribution of the underlying event population. The framework can be readily deployed as a rapid post-processing tool.
It has been recently shown that quadruply lensed gravitational-wave (GW) events due to coalescing binaries can be localized to one or just a few galaxies, even in the absence of an electromagnetic counterpart. We discuss how this can be used to extract information on modified GW propagation, which is a crucial signature of modifications of gravity at cosmological scales. We show that, using quadruply lensed systems, it is possible to constrain the parameter $Ξ_0$ that characterizes modified GW propagation, without the need of imposing a prior on $H_0$. A LIGO/Virgo/Kagra network at target sens…
Gravitational waves are perturbations in the spacetime that propagate at the speed of light. The study of such phenomenon is interesting because many cosmological processes and astrophysical objects, such as binary systems, are potential sources of gravitational radiation and can have their emissions detected in the near future by the next generation of interferometric detectors. Concerning the astrophysical objects, an interesting case is when there are several sources emitting in such a way that there is a superposition of signals, resulting in a smooth spectrum which spans a wide range of f…
Recent studies suggest that coalescing neutron stars are subject to a fluid instability involving the nonlinear coupling of the tide to $p$-modes and $g$-modes. Its influence on the inspiral dynamics and thus the gravitational wave signal is, however, uncertain because we do not know precisely how the instability saturates. Here we construct a simple, physically motivated model of the saturation that allows us to explore the instability's impact as a function of the model parameters. We find that for plausible assumptions about the saturation, current gravitational wave detectors might miss $>…
We report a novel application of graphics processing units (GPUs) for the purpose of accelerating the search pipelines for gravitational waves from coalescing binaries of compact objects. A speed-up of 16 fold has been achieved compared with a single central processing unit (CPU). We show that substantial improvements are possible and discuss the reduction in CPU count required for the detection of inspiral sources afforded by the use of GPUs.
We discuss the possibility to obtain an electromagnetic emission accompanying the gravitational waves emitted in the coalescence of a compact binary system. Motivated by the existence of black hole configurations with open magnetic field lines along the rotation axis, we consider a magnetic dipole in the system, the evolution of which leads to (i) electromagnetic radiation, and (ii) a contribution to the gravitational radiation, the luminosity of both being evaluated. Starting from the observations on magnetars, we impose upper limits for both the electromagnetic emission and the contribution …
Extending our previous studies, we perform high-resolution simulations of inspiraling binary neutron stars in numerical relativity. We thoroughly carry through a convergence study in our currently available computational resources with the smallest grid spacing of $\approx 63$--86~meter for the neutron-star radius 10.9--13.7\,km. The estimated total error in the gravitational-wave phase is of order 0.1~rad for the total phase of $\gtrsim 210$\,rad in the last $\sim 15$--16 inspiral orbits. We then compare the waveforms (without resolution extrapolation) with those calculated by the latest effe…
The recent observation of gravitational waves by the LIGO/Virgo collaboration provides a unique opportunity to probe the extreme gravity of coalescing binary black holes. In this regime, the gravitational interaction is not only strong, but the spacetime curvature is large, characteristic velocities are a non-negligible fraction of the speed of light, and the time scale on which the curvature and gravity change is small. This contribution discusses some consequences of these observations on modifications to General Relativity, with a special emphasis on Lorentz-violating theories.
Coalescing neutron star (NS)-black hole (BH) binaries are promising sources of gravitational-waves (GWs) to be detected within the next few years by current GW observatories. If the NS is tidally disrupted outside the BH innermost stable circular orbit, an accretion torus may form, and this could eventually power a short gamma-ray burst (SGRB). The observation of an SGRB in coincidence with gravitational radiation from an NS-BH coalescence would confirm the association between the two phenomena and also give us new insights on NS physics. We present here a new method to measure NS radii and th…
Coalescing binary systems (eg pulsars, neutron stars and black holes) are the most likely sources of gravitational radiation, yet to be detected on or near Earth, where the local gravitational field is negligible and the Poincaré symmetry rules. On the other hand, the general theory of gravitational waves emitted by axially symmetric rotating sources predicts the existence of a non-vanishing news function. The existence of such function implies that, for a distant observer, the asymptotic group of isometries, the BMS group, has a translational symmetry that depends on the orbit periodicity of …
The dynamical tide in a coalescing neutron star binary induces phase shifts in the gravitational waveform as the orbit sweeps through resonances with individual g-modes. Unlike the phase shift due to the equilibrium tide, the phase shifts due to the dynamical tide are sensitive to the stratification, composition, and superfluid state of the core. We extend our previous study of the dynamical tide in superfluid neutron stars by allowing for hyperons in the core. Hyperon gradients give rise to a new type of composition g-mode. Compared to g-modes due to muon-to-electron gradients, those due to h…
We study gravitational waves emitted in the late inspiral stage of binary neutron stars by analyzing the waveform obtained in numerical-relativity simulations. For deriving the physical gravitational waveforms from the numerical results, the resolution extrapolation plays an essential role for our simulations. The extrapolated gravitational-wave phases are compared with those calculated in the post-Newtonian (PN) and effective-one-body (EOB) formalisms including corrections of tidal effects. We show that the extrapolated gravitational-wave phases in numerical relativity agree well with those b…
We perform new longterm (15-16 orbits) simulations of coalescing binary neutron stars in numerical relativity using an updated Einstein's equation solver, employing low-eccentricity initial data, and modeling the neutron stars by a piecewise polytropic equation of state. A convergence study shows that our new results converge more rapidly than the third order and using the determined convergence order, we construct an extrapolated waveform for which the estimated total phase error should be less than 1 radian. We then compare the extrapolated waveforms with those calculated by the latest effec…
The gravitational recoil or "kick" of a black hole formed from the merger of two orbiting black holes, and caused by the anisotropic emission of gravitational radiation, is an astrophysically important phenomenon. We combine (i) an earlier calculation, using post-Newtonian theory, of the kick velocity accumulated up to the merger of two non-spinning black holes, (ii) a "close-limit approximation" calculation of the radiation emitted during the ringdown phase, and based on a solution of the Regge-Wheeler and Zerilli equations using initial data accurate to second post-Newtonian order. We prove …
Gravitational waves (GWs) may be magnified or de-magnified due to lensing. This phenomenon will bias the distance estimation based on the matched filtering technique. Via the multi-sphere ray-tracing technique, we study the GW magnification effect and selection effect with particular attention to the stellar-mass binary black holes (BBHs). We find that, for the observed luminosity distance $\lesssim 3~\mathrm{Gpc}$, which is the aLIGO/Virgo observational horizon limit, the average magnification keeps as unity, namely unbiased estimation, with the relative distance uncertainty $σ(\hat{d})/\hat{…
We describe the methods and results of numerical simulations of coalescing black holes. The simulation in dynamical spacetime covers the inspiral, merger, and ringdown phases. We analyze the emission of gravitational waves and properties of a black hole being the merger product. We discuss the results in the context of astrophysical environment of black holes that exist in the Universe.
We study how well the mass of the graviton can be constrained from gravitational-wave (GW) observations of coalescing binary black holes. Whereas the previous investigations employed post-Newtonian (PN) templates describing only the inspiral part of the signal, the recent progress in analytical and numerical relativity has provided analytical waveform templates coherently describing the inspiral-merger-ringdown (IMR) signals. We show that a search for binary black holes employing IMR templates will be able to constrain the mass of the graviton much more accurately (about an order of magnitude)…
Coalescing compact binaries of neutron stars and/or black holes are considered as one of the most promising sources for Earth based gravitational wave detectors. The LIGO-Virgo joint collaboration's Compact Binary Coalescence (CBC) group is searching for gravitational waves emitted by these astrophysical systems by matched filtering the data against theoretically modeled template waveforms. A variety of waveform template families are employed depending on the mass range probed by the search and the stage of the inspiral phase targeted: restricted post-Newtonian for systems having total mass le…
An accurate knowledge of the coalescing binary gravitational waveform is crucial for experimental searches as the ones performed by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration. Following an earlier paper by the same authors we refine the construction of analytical phenomenological waveforms describing the signal sourced by generically spinning binary systems. The gap between the initial inspiral part of the waveform, described by spin-Taylor approximants, and its final ring-down part, described by damped exponentials, is bridged by a phenomenological phase calibrated by comparison with the dominant spherical…
The quest for gravitational waves from coalescing binaries is customarily performed by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration via matched filtering, which requires a detailed knowledge of the signal. Complete analytical coalescence waveforms are currently available only for the non-precessing binary systems. In this paper we introduce complete phenomenological waveforms for the dominant quadrupolar mode of generically spinning systems. These waveforms are constructed by bridging the gap between the analytically known inspiral phase, described by spin Taylor (T4) approximants in the restricted waveform a…
The Einstein Telescope (ET) is the future third generation gravitational wave detector consisting of three independent interferometers arranged in a triangular configuration, with the sensitivity large enough to be able to detect stellar mass black holes even beyond the redshift of 10. In this paper, we analyze the capabilities of ET as a standalone instrument and not part of a network. We show that the analysis of detection of binary coalescences in the three individual interferometers of the ET allow us to weakly constrain the sky location of the source. We present the analysis that leads to…
Degeneracies in Sky Localisation Determination from a Spinning Coalescing Binary through Gravitational Wave Observations: a Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo Analysis for two Detectors
With the black hole mass function (BHMF; assuming an exponential cutoff at a mass of $\sim 40\,M_\odot$) of coalescing binary black hole systems constructed with the events detected in the O1 run of the advanced LIGO/Virgo network, Liang et al.(2017) predicted that the birth of the lightest intermediate mass black holes (LIMBHs; with a final mass of $\gtrsim 100\,M_\odot$) is very likely to be caught by the advanced LIGO/Virgo detectors in their O3 run. The O1 and O2 observation run data, however, strongly favor a cutoff of the BHMF much sharper than the exponential one. In this work we show t…
The LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA (LVK) collaboration has announced 90 coalescing binary black holes (BBHs) with $p_{\rm astro} > 50\%$ to date, however, the origin of their formation channels is still an open scientific question. Given various properties of BBHs (BH component masses and individual spins) inferred using the default priors by the LVK, independent groups have been trying to explain the formation of the BBHs with different formation channels. Of all formation scenarios, the chemically homogeneous evolution (CHE) channel has stood out with distinguishing features, namely, nearly-equal co…
Extending prior work by Pankow et al, we introduce RIFT, an algorithm to perform Rapid parameter Inference on gravitational wave sources via Iterative Fitting. We demonstrate this approach can correctly recover the parameters of coalescing compact binary systems, using detailed comparisons of RIFT to the well-tested LALInference software library. We provide several examples where the unique speed and flexibility of RIFT enables otherwise intractable or awkward parameter inference analyses, including (a) adopting either costly and novel models for outgoing gravitational waves; and (b) mixed app…
Recently, an instability due to the nonlinear coupling of p-modes to g-modes in tidally deformed neutron stars in coalescing binaries has been studied in some detail. The result is significant because it could influence the inspiral and leave an imprint on the gravitational wave signal that depends on the neutron star equation of state (EOS). Because of its potential importance, the details of the instability should be further elucidated and its sensitivity to the EOS should be investigated. To this end, we carry out a numerical analysis with six representative EOSs for both static and non-sta…
One of the goals of gravitational-wave astronomy is simultaneous detection of gravitational-wave signals from merging compact-object binaries and the electromagnetic transients from these mergers. With the next generation of advanced ground-based gravitational wave detectors under construction, we examine the benefits of the proposed extension of the detector network to include a fourth site in Australia in addition to the network of Hanford, Livingston and Cascina sites. Using Bayesian parameter-estimation analyses of simulated gravitational-wave signals from a range of coalescing-binary loca…
In this work we present IMRPhenomTP, a time domain phenomenological model for the dominant $l=2$, $m=|2|$ modes of coalescing black hole binary systems and its extension to describe general precessing systems within the "twisting up" approximation. The underlying non-precessing model is calibrated to the new release of Numerical Relativity simulations of the SXS Collaboration and its accuracy is comparable to the state-of-the-art non-precessing dominant mode models as IMRPhenomX and SEOBNRv4. The precessing extension allows for flexibility choosing the Euler angles of the time-dependent rotati…
We expand on our study of the gravitational and electromagnetic emissions from the late stage of an inspiraling neutron star binary as presented in Ref. \cite{Palenzuela:2013hu}. Interactions between the stellar magnetospheres, driven by the extreme dynamics of the merger, can yield considerable outflows. We study the gravitational and electromagnetic waves produced during the inspiral and merger of a binary neutron star system using a full relativistic, resistive MHD evolution code. We show that the interaction between the stellar magnetospheres extracts kinetic energy from the system and pow…
The coalescence of compact binaries containing neutron stars or black holes is one of the most promising signals for advanced ground-based laser interferometer gravitational-wave detectors, with the first direct detections expected over the next few years. The rate of binary coalescences and the distribution of component masses is highly uncertain, and population synthesis models predict a wide range of plausible values. Poorly constrained parameters in population synthesis models correspond to poorly understood astrophysics at various stages in the evolution of massive binary stars, the proge…
A model for determining the dimensionless spin parameter and mass of the black hole remnant of black hole-neutron star mergers with arbitrary initial black hole spin angular momentum, binary mass ratio, and neutron star mass and cold equation of state is formulated. Tests against numerical-relativity results are carried out, showing that both the dimensionless spin parameter and the final mass are accurately reproduced. For the first time, the behaviour of both quantities and of the l = 2, m = 2, n = 0 quasinormal mode frequency is inspected throughout the parameter space. Predictions of this …
In this thesis we elaborate on two different aspects of the Effective Field Theory (EFT) approach to a Binary Coalescing system in General Relativity (GR). First, we consider the issue of hereditary effects in the Post-Newtonian (PN) perturbative scheme, and we compute hereditary diagrams in the far zone region up to 5PN order, using both Feynman and Schwinger-Keldysh formalism, comparing our results with those appearing in literature. Then, we focus on the Post-Minkowskian (PM) perturbative scheme, and we compute the bending angle of a massless scalar field under the influence of a massive sc…
