3,490 research outputs found
Mapping the gravitational wave background
The gravitational wave sky is expected to have isolated bright sources
superimposed on a diffuse gravitational wave background. The background
radiation has two components: a confusion limited background from unresolved
astrophysical sources; and a cosmological component formed during the birth of
the universe. A map of the gravitational wave background can be made by
sweeping a gravitational wave detector across the sky. The detector output is a
complicated convolution of the sky luminosity distribution, the detector
response function and the scan pattern. Here we study the general
de-convolution problem, and show how LIGO (Laser Interferometric Gravitational
Observatory) and LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) can be used to
detect anisotropies in the gravitational wave background.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to CQ
Facing the LISA Data Analysis Challenge
By being the first observatory to survey the source rich low frequency region
of the gravitational wave spectrum, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
(LISA) will revolutionize our understanding of the Cosmos. For the first time
we will be able to detect the gravitational radiation from millions of galactic
binaries, the coalescence of two massive black holes, and the inspirals of
compact objects into massive black holes. The signals from multiple sources in
each class, and possibly others as well, will be simultaneously present in the
data. To achieve the enormous scientific return possible with LISA,
sophisticated data analysis techniques must be developed which can mine the
complex data in an effort to isolate and characterize individual signals. This
proceedings paper very briefly summarizes the challenges associated with
analyzing the LISA data, the current state of affairs, and the necessary next
steps to move forward in addressing the imminent challenges.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, Proceedings paper for the TeV Particle
Astrophysics II conference held Aug 28-31 at the Univ. of Wisconsi
Comment on "Gravity Waves, Chaos, and Spinning Compact Binaries"
In this comment, I argue that chaotic effects in binary black hole inspiral
will not strongly impact the detection of gravitational waves from such
systems.Comment: 1 page, comment on gr-qc/991004
Gravity Waves, Chaos, and Spinning Compact Binaries
Spinning compact binaries are shown to be chaotic in the Post-Newtonian
expansion of the two body system. Chaos by definition is the extreme
sensitivity to initial conditions and a consequent inability to predict the
outcome of the evolution. As a result, the spinning pair will have
unpredictable gravitational waveforms during coalescence. This poses a
challenge to future gravity wave observatories which rely on a match between
the data and a theoretical template.Comment: Final version published in PR
LISA data analysis I: Doppler demodulation
The orbital motion of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) produces
amplitude, phase and frequency modulation of a gravitational wave signal. The
modulations have the effect of spreading a monochromatic gravitational wave
signal across a range of frequencies. The modulations encode useful information
about the source location and orientation, but they also have the deleterious
affect of spreading a signal across a wide bandwidth, thereby reducing the
strength of the signal relative to the instrument noise. We describe a simple
method for removing the dominant, Doppler, component of the signal modulation.
The demodulation reassembles the power from a monochromatic source into a
narrow spike, and provides a quick way to determine the sky locations and
frequencies of the brightest gravitational wave sources.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures. References and new comments adde
Time-frequency analysis of extreme-mass-ratio inspiral signals in mock LISA data
Extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) of ~ 1-10 solar-mass compact objects
into ~ million solar-mass massive black holes can serve as excellent probes of
strong-field general relativity. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA)
is expected to detect gravitational wave signals from apprxomiately one hundred
EMRIs per year, but the data analysis of EMRI signals poses a unique set of
challenges due to their long duration and the extensive parameter space of
possible signals. One possible approach is to carry out a search for EMRI
tracks in the time-frequency domain. We have applied a time-frequency search to
the data from the Mock LISA Data Challenge (MLDC) with promising results. Our
analysis used the Hierarchical Algorithm for Clusters and Ridges to identify
tracks in the time-frequency spectrogram corresponding to EMRI sources. We then
estimated the EMRI source parameters from these tracks. In these proceedings,
we discuss the results of this analysis of the MLDC round 1.3 data.Comment: Amaldi-7 conference proceedings; requires jpconf style file
Forward Modeling of Space-borne Gravitational Wave Detectors
Planning is underway for several space-borne gravitational wave observatories
to be built in the next ten to twenty years. Realistic and efficient forward
modeling will play a key role in the design and operation of these
observatories. Space-borne interferometric gravitational wave detectors operate
very differently from their ground based counterparts. Complex orbital motion,
virtual interferometry, and finite size effects complicate the description of
space-based systems, while nonlinear control systems complicate the description
of ground based systems. Here we explore the forward modeling of space-based
gravitational wave detectors and introduce an adiabatic approximation to the
detector response that significantly extends the range of the standard low
frequency approximation. The adiabatic approximation will aid in the
development of data analysis techniques, and improve the modeling of
astrophysical parameter extraction.Comment: 14 Pages, 14 Figures, RevTex
Space missions to detect the cosmic gravitational-wave background
It is thought that a stochastic background of gravitational waves was
produced during the formation of the universe. A great deal could be learned by
measuring this Cosmic Gravitational-wave Background (CGB), but detecting the
CGB presents a significant technological challenge. The signal strength is
expected to be extremely weak, and there will be competition from unresolved
astrophysical foregrounds such as white dwarf binaries. Our goal is to identify
the most promising approach to detect the CGB. We study the sensitivities that
can be reached using both individual, and cross-correlated pairs of space based
interferometers. Our main result is a general, coordinate free formalism for
calculating the detector response that applies to arbitrary detector
configurations. We use this general formalism to identify some promising
designs for a GrAvitational Background Interferometer (GABI) mission. Our
conclusion is that detecting the CGB is not out of reach.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, IOP style, References Adde
Prospects for observing ultra-compact binaries with space-based gravitational wave interferometers and optical telescopes
Space-based gravitational wave interferometers are sensitive to the galactic
population of ultra-compact binaries. An important subset of the ultra-compact
binary population are those stars that can be individually resolved by both
gravitational wave interferometers and electromagnetic telescopes. The aim of
this paper is to quantify the multi-messenger potential of space-based
interferometers with arm-lengths between 1 and 5 Gm. The Fisher Information
Matrix is used to estimate the number of binaries from a model of the Milky Way
which are localized on the sky by the gravitational wave detector to within 1
and 10 square degrees and bright enough to be detected by a magnitude limited
survey. We find, depending on the choice of GW detector characteristics,
limiting magnitude, and observing strategy, that up to several hundred
gravitational wave sources could be detected in electromagnetic follow-up
observations.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures Updated to include new results. Submitted to MNRA
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