207 research outputs found
Understanding possible electromagnetic counterparts to loud gravitational wave events: Binary black hole effects on electromagnetic fields
In addition to producing loud gravitational waves (GW), the dynamics of a
binary black hole system could induce emission of electromagnetic (EM)
radiation by affecting the behavior of plasmas and electromagnetic fields in
their vicinity. We here study how the electromagnetic fields are affected by a
pair of orbiting black holes through the merger. In particular, we show how the
binary's dynamics induce a variability in possible electromagnetically induced
emissions as well as an enhancement of electromagnetic fields during the
late-merge and merger epochs. These time dependent features will likely leave
their imprint in processes generating detectable emissions and can be exploited
in the detection of electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational waves.Comment: 12 page
Robustness of the Blandford-Znajek mechanism
The Blandford-Znajek mechanism has long been regarded as a key ingredient in
models attempting to explain powerful jets in AGNs, quasars, blazzars etc. In
such mechanism, energy is extracted from a rotating black hole and dissipated
at a load at far distances. In the current work we examine the behaviour of the
BZ mechanism with respect to different boundary conditions, revealing the
mechanism robustness upon variation of these conditions. Consequently, this
work closes a gap in our understanding of this important scenario.Comment: 7 pages, accepted in CQ
Coherence Resonance in Chaotic Systems
We show that it is possible for chaotic systems to display the main features
of coherence resonance. In particular, we show that a Chua model, operating in
a chaotic regime and in the presence of noise, can exhibit oscillations whose
regularity is optimal for some intermediate value of the noise intensity. We
find that the power spectrum of the signal develops a peak at finite frequency
at intermediate values of the noise. These are all signatures of coherence
resonance. We also experimentally study a Chua circuit and corroborate the
above simulation results. Finally, we analyze a simple model composed of two
separate limit cycles which still exhibits coherence resonance, and show that
its behavior is qualitatively similar to that of the chaotic Chua systemComment: 4 pages (including 4 figures) LaTeX fil
Intense Electromagnetic Outbursts from Collapsing Hypermassive Neutron Stars
We study the gravitational collapse of a magnetized neutron star using a
novel numerical approach able to capture both the dynamics of the star and the
behavior of the surrounding plasma. In this approach, a fully general
relativistic magnetohydrodynamics implementation models the collapse of the
star and provides appropriate boundary conditions to a force-free model which
describes the stellar exterior. We validate this strategy by comparing with
known results for the rotating monopole and aligned rotator solutions and then
apply it to study both rotating and non-rotating stellar collapse scenarios,
and contrast the behavior with what is obtained when employing the
electrovacuum approximation outside the star. The non-rotating electrovacuum
collapse is shown to agree qualitatively with a Newtonian model of the
electromagnetic field outside a collapsing star. We illustrate and discuss a
fundamental difference between the force-free and electrovacuum solutions,
involving the appearance of large zones of electric-dominated field in the
vacuum case. This provides a clear demonstration of how dissipative
singularities appear generically in the non-linear time-evolution of force-free
fluids. In both the rotating and non-rotating cases, our simulations indicate
that the collapse induces a strong electromagnetic transient. In the case of
sub-millisecond rotation, the magnetic field experiences strong winding and the
transient carries much more energy. This result has important implications for
models of gamma-ray bursts.Comment: 28 pages, 20 figures (quality lowered to reduce sizes). Improved
initial data and matching condition results in a lower, but still important,
energy emission. Added appendix with a discussion on effects of transition
laye
Magnetospheres of Black Hole Systems in Force-Free Plasma
The interaction of black holes with ambient magnetic fields is important for
a variety of highly energetic astrophysical phenomena. We study this
interaction within the force-free approximation in which a tenuous plasma is
assumed to have zero inertia. Blandford and Znajek (BZ) used this approach to
demonstrate the conversion of some of the black hole's energy into
electromagnetic Poynting flux in stationary and axisymmetric single black hole
systems. We adopt this approach and extend it to examine asymmetric and, most
importantly, dynamical systems by implementing the fully nonlinear field
equations of general relativity coupled to Maxwell's equations. For single
black holes, we study in particular the dependence of the Poynting flux and
show that, even for misalignments between the black hole spin and the direction
of the asymptotic magnetic field, a Poynting flux is generated with a
luminosity dependent on such misalignment. For binary black hole systems, we
show both in the head-on and orbiting cases that the moving black holes
generate a Poynting flux.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figure
Binary black holes' effects on electromagnetic fields
In addition to producing gravitational waves (GW), the dynamics of a binary
black hole system could induce emission of electromagnetic (EM) radiation by
affecting the behavior of plasmas and electromagnetic fields in their vicinity.
We here study how the electromagnetic fields are affected by a pair of orbiting
black holes through the merger. In particular, we show how the binary's
dynamics induce a variability in possible electromagnetically induced emissions
as well as a possible enhancement of electromagnetic fields during the
late-merge and merger epochs. These time dependent features will likely leave
their imprint in processes generating detectable emissions and can be exploited
in the detection of electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational waves.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Updated to coincide with PRL versio
Relativistic MHD with Adaptive Mesh Refinement
This paper presents a new computer code to solve the general relativistic
magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) equations using distributed parallel adaptive mesh
refinement (AMR). The fluid equations are solved using a finite difference
Convex ENO method (CENO) in 3+1 dimensions, and the AMR is Berger-Oliger.
Hyperbolic divergence cleaning is used to control the
constraint. We present results from three flat space tests, and examine the
accretion of a fluid onto a Schwarzschild black hole, reproducing the Michel
solution. The AMR simulations substantially improve performance while
reproducing the resolution equivalent unigrid simulation results. Finally, we
discuss strong scaling results for parallel unigrid and AMR runs.Comment: 24 pages, 14 figures, 3 table
Method to estimate ISCO and ring-down frequencies in binary systems and consequences for gravitational wave data analysis
Recent advances in the description of compact binary systems have produced
gravitational waveforms that include inspiral, merger and ring-down phases.
Comparing results from numerical simulations with those of post-Newtonian (PN),
and related, expansions has provided motivation for employing PN waveforms in
near merger epochs when searching for gravitational waves and has encouraged
the development of analytic fits to full numerical waveforms. The models and
simulations do not yet cover the full binary coalescence parameter space. For
these yet un-simulated regions, data analysts can still conduct separate
inspiral, merger and ring-down searches. Improved knowledge about the end of
the inspiral phase, the beginning of the merger, and the ring-down frequencies
could increase the efficiency of both coherent inspiral-merger-ring-down (IMR)
searches and searches over each phase separately. Insight can be gained for all
three cases through a recently presented theoretical calculation, which,
corroborated by the numerical results, provides an implicit formula for the
final spin of the merged black holes, accurate to within 10% over a large
parameter space. Knowledge of the final spin allows one to predict the end of
the inspiral phase and the quasinormal mode ring-down frequencies, and in turn
provides information about the bandwidth and duration of the merger. In this
work we will discuss a few of the implications of this calculation for data
analysis.Comment: Added references to section 3 14 pages 5 figures. Submitted to
Classical and Quantum Gravit
Revealing natural relationships among arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: culture line BEG47 represents Diversispora epigaea, not Glomus versiforme
Background: Understanding the mechanisms underlying biological phenomena, such as evolutionarily conservative trait inheritance, is predicated on knowledge of the natural relationships among organisms. However, despite their enormous ecological significance, many of the ubiquitous soil inhabiting and plant symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF, phylum Glomeromycota) are incorrectly classified.
Methodology/Principal Findings:
Here, we focused on a frequently used model AMF registered as culture BEG47. This fungus is a descendent of the ex-type culture-lineage of Glomus epigaeum, which in 1983 was synonymised with Glomus versiforme. It has since then been used as ‘G. versiforme BEG47’. We show by morphological comparisons, based on type material, collected 1860–61, of G. versiforme and on type material and living ex-type cultures of G. epigaeum, that these two AMF species cannot be conspecific, and by molecular phylogenetics that BEG47 is a member of the genus Diversispora.
Conclusions: This study highlights that experimental works published during the last >25 years on an AMF named ‘G. versiforme’ or ‘BEG47’ refer to D. epigaea, a species that is actually evolutionarily separated by hundreds of millions of years from all members of the genera in the Glomerales and thus from most other commonly used AMF ‘laboratory strains’. Detailed redescriptions substantiate the renaming of G. epigaeum (BEG47) as D. epigaea, positioning it systematically in the order Diversisporales, thus enabling an evolutionary understanding of genetical, physiological, and ecological traits, relative to those of other AMF. Diversispora epigaea is widely cultured as a laboratory strain of AMF, whereas G. versiforme appears not to have been cultured nor found in the field since its original description
The Current Status of Binary Black Hole Simulations in Numerical Relativity
Since the breakthroughs in 2005 which have led to long term stable solutions
of the binary black hole problem in numerical relativity, much progress has
been made. I present here a short summary of the state of the field, including
the capabilities of numerical relativity codes, recent physical results
obtained from simulations, and improvements to the methods used to evolve and
analyse binary black hole spacetimes.Comment: 14 pages; minor changes and corrections in response to referee
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