4,136 research outputs found
Angular Resolution of the LISA Gravitational Wave Detector
We calculate the angular resolution of the planned LISA detector, a
space-based laser interferometer for measuring low-frequency gravitational
waves from galactic and extragalactic sources. LISA is not a pointed
instrument; it is an all-sky monitor with a quadrupolar beam pattern. LISA will
measure simultaneously both polarization components of incoming gravitational
waves, so the data will consist of two time series. All physical properties of
the source, including its position, must be extracted from these time series.
LISA's angular resolution is therefore not a fixed quantity, but rather depends
on the type of signal and on how much other information must be extracted.
Information about the source position will be encoded in the measured signal in
three ways: 1) through the relative amplitudes and phases of the two
polarization components, 2) through the periodic Doppler shift imposed on the
signal by the detector's motion around the Sun, and 3) through the further
modulation of the signal caused by the detector's time-varying orientation. We
derive the basic formulae required to calculate the LISA's angular resolution
for a given source. We then evaluate for
two sources of particular interest: monchromatic sources and mergers of
supermassive black holes. For these two types of sources, we calculate (in the
high signal-to-noise approximation) the full variance-covariance matrix, which
gives the accuracy to which all source parameters can be measured. Since our
results on LISA's angular resolution depend mainly on gross features of the
detector geometry, orbit, and noise curve, we expect these results to be fairly
insensitive to modest changes in detector design that may occur between now and
launch. We also expect that our calculations could be easily modified to apply
to a modified design.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, RevTex 3.0 fil
Gravitational Waves from coalescing binaries: Estimation of parameters
The paper presents a statistical model which reproduces the results of Monte
Carlo simulations to estimate the parameters of the gravitational wave signal
from a coalesing binary system. The model however is quite general and would be
useful in other parameter estimation problems.Comment: LaTeX with RevTeX macros, 4 figure
Hurst Coefficient in long time series of population size: Model for two plant populations with different reproductive strategies
Can the fractal dimension of fluctuations in population size be used to estimate extinction risk? The problem with estimating this fractal dimension is that the lengths of the time series are usually too short for conclusive results. This study answered this question with long time series data obtained from an iterative competition model. This model produces competitive extinction at different perturbation intensities for two different germination strategies: germination of all seeds vs. dormancy in half the seeds. This provided long time series of 900 years and different extinction risks. The results support the hypothesis for the effectiveness of the Hurst coefficient for estimating extinction risk
Detection of high energy X-rays from the galactic center region
Observations of the galactic center region made with the high energy X-ray detector on OSO-8 are discussed. A strong hard X-ray which was detected during these observations from the vicinity of the galactic center are examined. The counting rate spectrum and the photon number spectrum of the flux are determined. Comparisons with the high energy X-ray fluxes observed from sources in the region by others are discussed
Estimating the detectable rate of capture of stellar mass black holes by massive central black holes in normal galaxies
The capture and subsequent inspiral of stellar mass black holes on eccentric
orbits by central massive black holes, is one of the more interesting likely
sources of gravitational radiation detectable by LISA. We estimate the rate of
observable events and the associated uncertainties. A moderately favourable
mass function could provide many detectable bursts each year, and a detection
of at least one burst per year is very likely given our current understanding
of the populations in cores of normal spiral galaxies.Comment: 3 pages 2-column revtex Latex macro. No figures. Classical and
Quantum Gravity, accepte
The high-energy pulsed X-ray spectrum of HER X-1 as observed with OSO-8
Her X-1 was observed from 1977 August 30 to September 10 using the High-Energy X-Ray Scintillation Spectrometer on board the OSO-8 satellite. The observation, during which the source was monitored continually for nearly an entire ON-state, covered the energy range from 16 to 280 keV. Pulsed flux measurements as a function of binary orbit and binary phase are presented for energies between 16 and 98 keV. The pulsed flux between 16 and 33 keV exhibited a sharp decrease following the fourth binary orbit and was consistent with zero pulsed flux thereafter. The pulsed spectrum was fitted with a power law, a thermal spectrum without features, and a thermal spectrum with a superposed gaussian centered at 55 keV. The latter fit has the smallest value of chi - squared per degree of freedom, and the resulting integrated line intensity is 1.5 superscript + 4.1 subscript - 1.4 x .001 photons s superscript-1 cm superscript-2 for a width of 3.1 superscript + 9.1 subscript -2.6 keV. This result, while of low statistical significance, agrees with the value observed by Trumper (1978) during the same On-state
Complete adiabatic waveform templates for a test-mass in the Schwarzschild spacetime: VIRGO and Advanced LIGO studies
Post-Newtonian expansions of the binding energy and gravitational wave flux
truncated at the {\it same relative} post-Newtonian order form the basis of the
{\it standard adiabatic} approximation to the phasing of gravitational waves
from inspiralling compact binaries. Viewed in terms of the dynamics of the
binary, the standard approximation is equivalent to neglecting certain
conservative post-Newtonian terms in the acceleration. In an earlier work, we
had proposed a new {\it complete adiabatic} approximant constructed from the
energy and flux functions. At the leading order it employs the 2PN energy
function rather than the 0PN one in the standard approximation, so that,
effectively the approximation corresponds to the dynamics where there are no
missing post-Newtonian terms in the acceleration. In this paper, we compare the
overlaps of the standard and complete adiabatic templates with the exact
waveform in the adiabatic approximation of a test-mass motion in the
Schwarzschild spacetime, for the VIRGO and the Advanced LIGO noise spectra. It
is found that the complete adiabatic approximants lead to a remarkable
improvement in the {\it effectualness} at lower PN ( 3PN) orders, while
standard approximants of order 3PN provide a good lower-bound to the
complete approximants for the construction of effectual templates. {\it
Faithfulness} of complete approximants is better than that of standard
approximants except for a few post-Newtonian orders. Standard and complete
approximants beyond the adiabatic approximation are also studied using the
Lagrangian templates of Buonanno, Chen and Vallisneri.Comment: Proceedings of the GWDAW-9, Accepted for publication in Class. Quant.
Gra
Gravitational Helioseismology?
The magnitudes of the external gravitational perturbations associated with
the normal modes of the Sun are evaluated to determine whether these solar
oscillations could be observed with the proposed Laser Interferometer Space
Antenna (LISA), a network of satellites designed to detect gravitational
radiation. The modes of relevance to LISA---the , low-order , and
-modes---have not been conclusively observed to date. We find that the
energy in these modes must be greater than about in order
to be observable above the LISA detector noise. These mode energies are larger
than generally expected, but are much smaller than the current observational
upper limits. LISA may be confusion-limited at the relevant frequencies due to
the galactic background from short-period white dwarf binaries. Present
estimates of the number of these binaries would require the solar modes to have
energies above about to be observable by LISA.Comment: 8 pages; prepared with REVTEX 3.0 LaTeX macro
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