Search for gravitational-lensing signatures in the full third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network

Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions of gravitational wave-signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO--Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by 1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, 2) calculating the degree of overlap amongst the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, 3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms amongst pairs of signals, and 4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by 1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and 2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the non-detection of gravitational-wave lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M>70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0<e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM

The employment of working class women in Leeds, 1880-1914.

Between 1880 and 1914 women's industrial employment in Leeds was transformed by the introduction of the factory system in the consumer-goods trades. Women came to predominate in ready-made tailoring, but have been neglected in histories of the city. Recent studies have argued that a. focus on the sex division of labour in social production challenges conventional interpretations of working-class history. This thesis contributes to current debates by examining women's work in Leeds. It argues that the sex division of labour and the tensions between sex and class had a critical impact on the development of the local labour movement. Studies of women's work have shown the importance of regional variations in the pattern of female employment. Leeds provides the opportunity to study a hitherto neglected group, - female factory workers employed outside cotton textiles. Wonen's subordinate role within industry and their attitudes to work were structured by the experience of work itself as well as by their early socialisatjon and role in the family. The first section examines the conditions of women's industrial employment. It suggests that job segregation by sex structured the specific features of women's work in Leeds. Section two locates the extent and type of womens work in Leeds in the context of the social conditions of family life and contemporary expectations of appropriate sex roles. The varied family backgrounds, age and marital status affected the attitudes of individual women to paid employment and modified its effects.. The final section examines the attitudes of the Leeds labour movement towards women workers and the tensions between sex and class. The labour movement failed to address women's needs and to offer a real challenge to their subordinate industrial position. This weakened union organisation and independent labour politics in the city

'The victory of ideals must be organized': Labour Party women organizers in the inter-war years

This article examines the work of Labour Party women organizers and their activities at a regional level in the inter-war years. It looks at their role in building up the women's sections, in providing education and training and in taking part in electoral campaigning and asks to what extent their methods of organizing were gendered. It argues that the women organizers played an important part in persuading women in the home to become active in the Labour Party and that politics was relevant to their daily lives and would broaden their horizons as women. © The Author(s), 2010

Women as paid organisers and propagandists for the British Labour Party between the wars

This article contributes to recent debates about the complicated ways in which women involved in the interwar British Labour Party negotiated their political identities through an examination of the activities and aims of a neglected group, the paid women organizers. It suggests that although they accepted the importance of women's work within the home, the organizers did not see women's lives as confined by domesticity. Instead, they argued that women in the home had the potential for collective political action. The article looks at the campaign for pit head baths to highlight the attempt by the organizers to develop a politics around issues such as dirt that concerned women in their daily lives. It was difficult to persuade the Labour Party to take these questions seriously, and the organizers experienced constraints as well as opportunities that came from their paid role, but it is argued here that they did carve a career that was woman-focused and sought to give women in the home a voice. © 2010 International Labor and Working-Class History, Inc