71 research outputs found
Numerical Integration of Nonlinear Wave Equations for General Relativity
A second-order numerical implementation is given for recently derived
nonlinear wave equations for general relativity. The Gowdy T cosmology is
used as a test bed for studying the accuracy and convergence of simulations of
one-dimensional nonlinear waves. The complete freedom in space-time slicing in
the present formulation is exploited to compute in the Gowdy line-element.
Second-order convergence is found by direct comparison of the results with
either analytical solutions for polarized waves, or solutions obtained from
Gowdy's reduced wave equations for the more general unpolarized waves. Some
directions for extensions are discussed.Comment: 19 pages (LaTex), 3 figures (ps
An -frequency dynamics algorithm for gravitational waves
Coalescence of low mass compact binaries of neutron stars and black holes are
primary burst sources for LIGO and VIRGO.Of importance in the early stages of
observations will be the classification of candidate detections by source-type.
The diversity in source parameters and serendipity in any new window of
observations suggest to consider model-independent detection algorithms. Here a
frequency dynamics algorithm is described which extracts a trajectory in the
-plane from the noisy signal. The algorithm is studied in simulated
binary coalescence. Robust results are obtained with experimental noise data.
Experiments show the method to be superior to matched filtering in the presence
of model imperfections.Comment: to appear in Rapid Commun, Phys Rev
Extending the lifetime of 3D black hole computations with a new hyperbolic system of evolution equations
We present a new many-parameter family of hyperbolic representations of
Einstein's equations, which we obtain by a straightforward generalization of
previously known systems. We solve the resulting evolution equations
numerically for a Schwarzschild black hole in three spatial dimensions, and
find that the stability of the simulation is strongly dependent on the form of
the equations (i.e. the choice of parameters of the hyperbolic system),
independent of the numerics. For an appropriate range of parameters we can
evolve a single 3D black hole to -- , and are
apparently limited by constraint-violating solutions of the evolution
equations. We expect that our method should result in comparable times for
evolutions of a binary black hole system.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PR
Magnetic Reconnection in Extreme Astrophysical Environments
Magnetic reconnection is a basic plasma process of dramatic rearrangement of
magnetic topology, often leading to a violent release of magnetic energy. It is
important in magnetic fusion and in space and solar physics --- areas that have
so far provided the context for most of reconnection research. Importantly,
these environments consist just of electrons and ions and the dissipated energy
always stays with the plasma. In contrast, in this paper I introduce a new
direction of research, motivated by several important problems in high-energy
astrophysics --- reconnection in high energy density (HED) radiative plasmas,
where radiation pressure and radiative cooling become dominant factors in the
pressure and energy balance. I identify the key processes distinguishing HED
reconnection: special-relativistic effects; radiative effects (radiative
cooling, radiation pressure, and Compton resistivity); and, at the most extreme
end, QED effects, including pair creation. I then discuss the main
astrophysical applications --- situations with magnetar-strength fields
(exceeding the quantum critical field of about 4 x 10^13 G): giant SGR flares
and magnetically-powered central engines and jets of GRBs. Here, magnetic
energy density is so high that its dissipation heats the plasma to MeV
temperatures. Electron-positron pairs are then copiously produced, making the
reconnection layer highly collisional and dressing it in a thick pair coat that
traps radiation. The pressure is dominated by radiation and pairs. Yet,
radiation diffusion across the layer may be faster than the global Alfv\'en
transit time; then, radiative cooling governs the thermodynamics and
reconnection becomes a radiative transfer problem, greatly affected by the
ultra-strong magnetic field. This overall picture is very different from our
traditional picture of reconnection and thus represents a new frontier in
reconnection research.Comment: Accepted to Space Science Reviews (special issue on magnetic
reconnection). Article is based on an invited review talk at the
Yosemite-2010 Workshop on Magnetic Reconnection (Yosemite NP, CA, USA;
February 8-12, 2010). 30 pages, no figure
Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with Gamma-Ray Bursts Detected by Fermi and Swift during the LIGO-Virgo Run O3b
We search for gravitational-wave signals associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Fermi and Swift satellites during the second half of the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo (2019 November 1 15:00 UTC-2020 March 27 17:00 UTC). We conduct two independent searches: A generic gravitational-wave transients search to analyze 86 GRBs and an analysis to target binary mergers with at least one neutron star as short GRB progenitors for 17 events. We find no significant evidence for gravitational-wave signals associated with any of these GRBs. A weighted binomial test of the combined results finds no evidence for subthreshold gravitational-wave signals associated with this GRB ensemble either. We use several source types and signal morphologies during the searches, resulting in lower bounds on the estimated distance to each GRB. Finally, we constrain the population of low-luminosity short GRBs using results from the first to the third observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. The resulting population is in accordance with the local binary neutron star merger rate. © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society
Narrowband Searches for Continuous and Long-duration Transient Gravitational Waves from Known Pulsars in the LIGO-Virgo Third Observing Run
Isolated neutron stars that are asymmetric with respect to their spin axis are possible sources of detectable continuous gravitational waves. This paper presents a fully coherent search for such signals from eighteen pulsars in data from LIGO and Virgo's third observing run (O3). For known pulsars, efficient and sensitive matched-filter searches can be carried out if one assumes the gravitational radiation is phase-locked to the electromagnetic emission. In the search presented here, we relax this assumption and allow both the frequency and the time derivative of the frequency of the gravitational waves to vary in a small range around those inferred from electromagnetic observations. We find no evidence for continuous gravitational waves, and set upper limits on the strain amplitude for each target. These limits are more constraining for seven of the targets than the spin-down limit defined by ascribing all rotational energy loss to gravitational radiation. In an additional search, we look in O3 data for long-duration (hours-months) transient gravitational waves in the aftermath of pulsar glitches for six targets with a total of nine glitches. We report two marginal outliers from this search, but find no clear evidence for such emission either. The resulting duration-dependent strain upper limits do not surpass indirect energy constraints for any of these targets. © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society
A joint Fermi-GBM and Swift-BAT analysis of gravitational-wave candidates from the third gravitational-wave observing run
We present Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (Fermi-GBM) and Swift Burst Alert Telescope (Swift-BAT) searches for gamma-ray/X-ray counterparts to gravitational-wave (GW) candidate events identified during the third observing run of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. Using Fermi-GBM onboard triggers and subthreshold gamma-ray burst (GRB) candidates found in the Fermi-GBM ground analyses, the Targeted Search and the Untargeted Search, we investigate whether there are any coincident GRBs associated with the GWs. We also search the Swift-BAT rate data around the GW times to determine whether a GRB counterpart is present. No counterparts are found. Using both the Fermi-GBM Targeted Search and the Swift-BAT search, we calculate flux upper limits and present joint upper limits on the gamma-ray luminosity of each GW. Given these limits, we constrain theoretical models for the emission of gamma rays from binary black hole mergers
Observational evidence for extended emission to GW170817
The recent LIGO event GW170817 is the merger of a double neutron star system with an associated short GRB170817A with 2.9 ± 0.3 s soft emission over 8-70 keV. This association has a Gaussian equivalent level of confidence of 5.1Ï. The merger produced a hypermassive neutron star or stellar mass black hole with prompt or continuous energy output powering GRB170817A. Here, we report on a possible detection of extended emission (EE) in gravitational radiation during GRB170817A: a descending chirp with characteristic time-scale Ï = 3.01 ± 0.2 s in a (H1,L1)-spectrogram up to 700 Hz with Gaussian equivalent level of confidence greater than 3.3Ï based on causality alone following edge detection applied to (H1,L1)-spectrograms merged by frequency coincidences. Additional confidence derives from the strength of this EE. The observed frequencies below 1 kHz indicate a hypermassive magnetar rather than a black hole, spinning down by magnetic winds and interactions with dynamical mass ejecta.© 2018 The Author(s).Support is acknowledged from the National Research Foundation of Korea under grants 2015R1D1A1A01059793, 2016R1A5A1013277 and 2018044640. This work made use of LIGO O2 data from the LIGO Open Science Center provided by the LIGO Laboratory and LIGO Scientific Collaboration. LIGO is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. Additional support is acknowledged from MEXT, JSPS Leading-edge Research Infrastructure Program, JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Specially Promoted Research 26000005, MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas 24103005, JSPS Core-to-Core Program, Advanced Research Networks, and the joint research program of the Institute for Cosmic Ray ResearchPeer Reviewe
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