While the Advanced LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave experiments now regularly observe binary black hole mergers, the evolutionary origin of these events remains a mystery. Analysis of the binary black hole spin distribution may shed light on this mystery, offering a means of discriminating between different binary formation channels. Using the data from Advanced LIGO and Virgo's first and second observing runs, here we seek to carefully characterize the distribution of effective spin among binary black holes, hierarchically measuring the distribution's mean $μ$ and variance $σ^2$ while accounting for selection effects and degeneracies between spin and other black hole parameters. We demonstrate that the known population of binary black holes have spins that are both small, with $μ\sim 0$, and very narrowly distributed, with $σ^2 \leq 0.07$ at 95% credibility. We then explore what these ensemble properties imply about the spins of individual binary black hole mergers, re-analyzing existing gravitational-wave events with a population-informed prior on their effective spin. The binary black hole GW170729, which previously excluded effective spin equal to zero, is now consistent with zero effective spin at ~10% credibility. More broadly, we find that uninformative spin priors generally yield overestimates for the effective spin magnitudes of compact binary mergers.
The role of the dense matter properties on the tidal deformability and gravitational waveforms of binary neutron stars is studied using a set of unified equations of state. Based on the nuclear energy-density functional theory, these equations of state provide a thermodynamically consistent treatment of all regions of the stars and were calculated using functionals that were precision fitted to experimental and theoretical nuclear data.
The vast majority of compact binary mergers in the Universe produce gravitational waves that are too weak to yield unambiguous detections; they are unresolved. We present a method to infer the population properties of compact binaries -- such as their merger rates, mass spectrum, and spin distribution -- using both resolved and unresolved gravitational waves. By eliminating entirely the distinction between resolved and unresolved signals, we eliminate bias from selection effects. To demonstrate this method, we carry out a Monte Carlo study using an astrophysically motivated population of binar…
The mass and spin distributions of compact binary gravitational-wave sources are currently uncertain due to complicated astrophysics involved in their formation. Multiple sub-populations of compact binaries representing different evolutionary scenarios may be present among sources detected by Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. In addition to hierarchical modelling, unmodelled methods can aid in determining the number of sub-populations and their properties. In this paper, we apply Gaussian mixture model clustering to 1000 simulated gravitational-wave compact binary sources from a mixture of fiv…
We construct the gravitational-wave equation in the background of the effective one-body system for the spinless binary, which is in general available with the spherically symmetric background as well. The gauge conditions are given in terms of the metric perturbation.
We prose a new measurement strategy of the estimation of the lens mass, as well as the actual amplification, of the lens through the modulation patten of lensed gravitational wave signals alone. This can be done by measuring the frequency and amplitude ratio of peaks and valleys of the modulation pattern of CBC signals, known as "beat", which is a time domain phenomenon of strong lens effect.
I present a numerical fit to the peak harmonic gravitational wave frequency emitted by an eccentric binary system in the post-Newtonian approximation. This fit significantly improves upon a previous commonly-used fit in population synthesis studies, in particular for eccentricities $\lesssim 0.8$.
We consider binary black holes (BBHs) in a hierarchical triple system where a more compact, less-massive binary is emitting detectable gravitational waves (GWs), and the tertiary is a supermassive BH at the center of a nuclear star cluster. As previous works have shown, the orbital motion of the outer binary can generate a detectable relativistic Doppler boost of the GWs emitted by the orbiting inner binary. We show here that for outer-binary orbits with a period of order one year, there can be a non-negligible probability for repeated gravitational lensing of the GWs emitted by the inner bina…
Gravitational waves emitted from the coalescence of neutron star binaries open a new window to probe matter and fundamental physics in unexplored, extreme regimes. To extract information about the supranuclear matter inside neutron stars and the properties of the compact binary systems, robust theoretical prescriptions are required. We give an overview about general features of the dynamics and the gravitational wave signal during the binary neutron star coalescence. We briefly describe existing analytical and numerical approaches to investigate the highly dynamical, strong-field region during…
In a recent paper "Probing gravitational wave polarizations with signals from compact binary coalescences" (arXiv:1710.03794 [gr-qc]) the authors argue that a single detection of gravitational wave by the LIGO-Virgo network is capable to distinguish between pure tensor and pure vector polarizations of gravitational waves. Here we point out a mistake in the author's analysis and show that such differentiation is possible only in the unlikely event when gravitational wave propagates in the direction of interferometer zero response for the tensor or vector polarizations. Nevertheless, the LIGO-Vi…
Discovery of gravitational waves by LIGO team (Abbott et al. 2016) bring a new era for observation of black hole systems. These new observations will improve our knowledge on black holes and gravitational physics. In this study, we present angular momentum loss mechanism through gravitational radiation for selected X-ray binary systems. The angular momentum loss in X-ray binary systems with a black hole companion due to gravitational radiation and mass loss time-scales are estimated for each selected system. In addition, their gravitational wave amplitudes are also estimated and their detectab…
We introduce a fully-coherent method for searching for gravitational wave signals generated by the merger of black hole and/or neutron star binaries. This extends the coherent analysis previously developed and used for targeted gravitational wave searches to an all-sky, all-time search. We apply the search to one month of data taken during the fifth science run of the LIGO detectors. We demonstrate an increase in sensitivity of 25% over the coincidence search, which is commensurate with expectations. Finally, we discuss prospects for implementing and running a coherent search for gravitational…
To enable detection and maximise the physics output of gravitational wave observations from compact binary systems, it is crucial the availability of accurate waveform models. The present work aims at giving an overview for non-experts of the (inspiral) waveforms used in the gravitational wave data analysis for compact binary coalescence. We first provide the essential elements of gravitational radiation physics within a simple Newtonian orbital dynamics and the linearized gravity theory, describing the adiabatic approximation applied to binary systems: the key element to construct the theoret…
During its first 4 months of taking data, Advanced LIGO has detected gravitational waves from two binary black hole mergers, GW150914 and GW151226, along with the statistically less significant binary black hole merger candidate LVT151012. We use our rapid binary population synthesis code COMPAS to show that all three events can be explained by a single evolutionary channel -- classical isolated binary evolution via mass transfer including a common envelope phase. We show all three events could have formed in low-metallicity environments (Z = 0.001) from progenitor binaries with typical total …
We introduce an efficient and straightforward technique for rapidly detecting gravitational waves from compact binary mergers. We show that this method achieves the low latencies required to alert electromagnetic partners of candidate binary mergers, aids in data monitoring, and makes use of multidetector networks for sky localization. This approach was instrumental to the analysis of gravitational-wave candidates during the second observing run of Advanced LIGO, including the period of coincident operation with Advanced Virgo, and in particular the analysis of the first observed binary neutro…
Gravitational waves provide a new probe of the Universe which can reveal a number of cosmological and astrophysical phenomena that cannot be observed by electromagnetic waves. Different frequencies of gravitational waves are detected by different means. Among them, precision measurements of pulsar timing provides a natural detector for gravitational waves with light-year scale wavelengths. In this review, first a basic framework to detect a stochastic gravitational wave background using pulsar timing array is introduced, and then possible interpretations of the latest observational result of 1…
We investigate the detectability of gravitational waves (GWs) lensed by a system that consists of binary black holes as lenses using time-domain numerical simulations. The gravitational lensing potential of this system is no longer static but evolves with time. When GWs from the source pass through the binary lens, their amplitudes can be modulated, which is similar to the phenomenon of amplitude modulation (AM) in radio communication. We find that even the frequency of the binary lens itself is too low to be detected by the LISA detection band, the sidebands in the spectrum of the lensed GWs …
Gravitational wave astronomy has established its role in measuring the equation of state governing cold supranuclear matter. To date and in the near future, gravitational wave measurements from neutron star binaries are likely to be restricted to the inspiral. However, future upgrades and the next generation of gravitational wave detectors will enable us to detect the gravitational wave signatures emitted after the merger of two stars, at times when densities beyond those in single neutron stars are reached. Therefore, the postmerger gravitational wave signal enables studies of supranuclear ma…
Since gravitational and electromagnetic waves from a compact binary coalescence carry independent information about the source, the joint observation is important for understanding the physical mechanisms of the emissions. Rapid detection and source localization of a gravitational wave signal are crucial for the joint observation to be successful. For a signal with a high signal-to-noise ratio, it is even possible to detect it before the merger, which is called early warning. In this letter, we estimate the performances of the early warning for neutron-star black-hole binaries, considering the…
The era of gravitational-wave astronomy began on 14 September 2015, when the LIGO Scientific Collaboration detected the merger of two $\sim 30 M_\odot$ black holes at a distance of $\sim 400$ Mpc. This event has facilitated qualitatively new tests of gravitational theories, and has also produced exciting information about the astrophysical origin of black hole binaries. In this review we discuss the implications of this event for gravitational physics and astrophysics, as well as the expectations for future detections. In brief: (1) because the spins of the black holes could not be measured ac…
This is a collection of literature reviews and some initial work on the estimation of the frequency of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger for low SNR. This document provides a starting point, with a broad overview of the prerequisites required for the follow-up work on frequency estimation.
We report results of numerical relativity simulations for {\it new} 26 non-spinning binary neutron star systems with 6 grid resolutions using an adaptive mesh refinement numerical re\ lativity code {\tt SACRA-MPI}. The finest grid spacing is $\approx 64$--$85$ m, depending on the systems. First, we derive long-term high-precision inspiral gravitational waveforms and show that the accumulated gravitational-wave phase error due to the finite grid resolution is less than $0.5$ rad during more than $200$ rad phase evolution irrespective of the systems. We also find that the gravitational-wave phas…
We investigate the gravitational Higgs mechanism in the inspiraling scalarized neutron star - white dwarf (NS-WD) binaries, whose dynamics are described by the scalar-tensor theory. Because of the difference in binding energy of NS and WD, the orbital decay of scalarized NS-WD system actually sources an emission of dipolar gravitational scalar radiation, in addition to the tensor gravitational waves, which breaks the Lorentz invariance constructed in the framework of general relativity. The resulted gravitational scalar radiation field obtains a scalar-energy-density-dependent effective mass, …
The recent LIGO-Virgo detection of gravitational waves from a binary neutron star inspiral event GW170817 and the discovery of its accompanying electromagnetic signals mark a new era for multimessenger astronomy. In the coming years, advanced gravitational-wave detectors are likely to detect tens to hundreds of similar events. Neutron stars in binaries can possess significant spin, which is imprinted on the gravitational waveform via the effective spin parameter $χ_\text{eff}$. We explore the astrophysical inferences made possible by gravitational-wave measurements of $χ_\text{eff}$. First, us…
Gravitational-wave detections of black hole mergers in binary systems offer an excellent opportunity to test the 2nd law of black hole thermodynamics. In this paper, we review how the entropy of any astrophysical black hole is calculated and we use LIGO and VIRGO's mass and spin data measurements from black hole merger events detected over the past years to perform entropy calculations and numerically test the generalized 2nd law of thermodynamics. Besides, we analyze the mathematical correlation between the black hole merger event's initial parameters to prove and conclude that the theorem wi…
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…
Chaotic three-body interactions may lead to the formation of gravitational-wave sources. Here, by modelling the encounter as a series of close, non-hierarchical, triple approaches, interspersed with hierarchical phases, in which the system consists of an inner binary and a star that orbits it, we compute the pericentre probability distribution, and thereby the in-spiral probability in any given binary-single encounter. We then consider the indirect influence of binary-single encounters on the population of gravitational-wave sources, by changing the eccentricity distribution of hard binaries i…
Modeling the stochastic gravitational wave background from various astrophysical sources is a key objective in view of upcoming observations with ground- and space-based gravitational wave observatories such as Advanced LIGO, VIRGO, eLISA and PTA. We develop a synthetic model framework that follows the evolution of single and binary compact objects in an astrophysical context. We describe the formation and merger rates of binaries, the evolution of their orbital parameters with time and the spectrum of emitted gravitational waves at different stages of binary evolution. Our approach is modular…
Next-generation global gravitational-wave detector network: Impact of detector orientation on compact binary coalescence and stochastic gravitational-wave background searches
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has recently discovered gravitational waves (GWs) from its first neutron star-neutron star merger at a distance of $\sim 40$~Mpc from the Earth. The associated electromagnetic (EM) detection of the event, including the short gamma-ray burst within $Δt \sim 2$~s after the GW arrival, can be used to test various aspects of sources physics and GW propagation. Using GW170817 as the first GW-EM example, we show that this event provides a stringent direct test that GWs travel at the speed of light. The gravitational potential of the Milk…
The forthcoming space-based gravitational wave observatory LISA will open a new window for the measurement of galactic binaries, which will deliver unprecedented information about these systems. However, the detection of galactic binary gravitational wave signals is challenged by the presence of gaps in the data. Whether being planned or not, gapped data dramatically reduce our ability to detect faint signals and the risk of misdetection soars. Inspired by advances in signal processing, we introduce a \nonparametric inpainting algorithm based on the sparse representation of the galactic binary…
We present an improved search for binary compact-object mergers using a network of ground-based gravitational-wave detectors. We model a volumetric, isotropic source population and incorporate the resulting distribution over signal amplitude, time delay, and coalescence phase into the ranking of candidate events. We describe an improved modeling of the background distribution, and demonstrate incorporating a prior model of the binary mass distribution in the ranking of candidate events. We find a $\sim 10\%$ and $\sim 20\%$ increase in detection volume for simulated binary neutron star and neu…
Tiny violation of Lorentz invariance has been the subject of theoretic study and experimental test for a long time. We use the Standard-Model Extension (SME) framework to investigate the effect of the minimal Lorentz violation on the structure of a neutron star. A set of hydrostatic equations with modifications from Lorentz violation are derived, and then the modifications are isolated and added to the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) equation as the leading-order Lorentz-violation corrections in relativistic systems. A perturbation solution to the leading-order modified TOV equations is found…
The properties of the population of merging binary black holes encode some of the uncertain physics of the evolution of massive stars in binaries. The binary black hole merger rate and chirp mass distribution are being measured by ground-based gravitational-wave detectors. We consider isolated binary evolution and explore how accurately the physical model can be constrained with such observations by applying the Fisher information matrix to the merging black hole population simulated with the rapid binary population synthesis code COMPAS. We investigate variations in four COMPAS parameters: co…
