Searching for periodic sources with LIGO. II: Hierarchical searches

The detection of quasi-periodic sources of gravitational waves requires the accumulation of signal-to-noise over long observation times. If not removed, Earth-motion induced Doppler modulations, and intrinsic variations of the gravitational-wave frequency make the signals impossible to detect. These effects can be corrected (removed) using a parameterized model for the frequency evolution. We compute the number of independent corrections $N_p(\Delta T,N)$ required for incoherent search strategies which use stacked power spectra---a demodulated time series is divided into $N$ segments of length $\Delta T$, each segment is FFTed, the power is computed, and the $N$ spectra are summed up. We estimate that the sensitivity of an all-sky search that uses incoherent stacks is a factor of 2--4 better than would be achieved using coherent Fourier transforms; incoherent methods are computationally efficient at exploring large parameter spaces. A two-stage hierarchical search which yields another 20--60% improvement in sensitivity in all-sky searches for old (>= 1000 yr) slow (= 40 yr) fast (<= 1000 Hz) pulsars. Assuming 10^{12} flops of effective computing power for data analysis, enhanced LIGO interferometers should be sensitive to: (i) Galactic core pulsars with gravitational ellipticities of \epsilon\agt5\times 10^{-6} at 200 Hz, (ii) Gravitational waves emitted by the unstable r-modes of newborn neutron stars out to distances of ~8 Mpc, and (iii) neutron stars in LMXB's with x-ray fluxes which exceed $2 \times 10^{-8} erg/(cm^2 s)$. Moreover, gravitational waves from the neutron star in Sco X-1 should be detectable is the interferometer is operated in a signal-recycled, narrow-band configuration.Comment: 22 Pages, 13 Figure

Epicyclic oscillations of non-slender fluid tori around Kerr black holes

Considering epicyclic oscillations of pressure-supported perfect fluid tori orbiting Kerr black holes we examine non-geodesic (pressure) effects on the epicyclic modes properties. Using a perturbation method we derive fully general relativistic formulas for eigenfunctions and eigenfrequencies of the radial and vertical epicyclic modes of a slightly non-slender, constant specific angular momentum torus up to second-order accuracy with respect to the torus thickness. The behaviour of the axisymmetric and lowest-order ($m=\pm 1$) non-axisymmetric epicyclic modes is investigated. For an arbitrary black hole spin we find that, in comparison with the (axisymmetric) epicyclic frequencies of free test particles, non-slender tori receive negative pressure corrections and exhibit thus lower frequencies. Our findings are in qualitative agreement with the results of a recent pseudo-Newtonian study of analogous problem defined within the Paczy{\'n}ski-Wiita potential. Implications of our results on the high-frequency QPO models dealing with epicyclic oscillations are addressed.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figure

Nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor dosing errors in an outpatient HIV clinic in the electronic medical record era

Information on antiretroviral dosing errors among health care providers for outpatient human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients is lacking. We evaluated factors associated with nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor dosing errors in a university-based HIV clinic using an electronic medical record. Overall, older age, minority race or ethnicity, and didanosine use were related to such errors. Impaired renal function was more common in older patients and racial or ethnic minorities and, in conjunction with fixed-dose combination drugs, contributed to the higher rates of errors in nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor dosing. Understanding the factors related to nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor dosing errors is an important step in the building of preventive tools

Bounding the mass of the graviton using gravitional-wave observations of inspiralling compact binaries

If gravitation is propagated by a massive field, then the velocity of gravitational waves (gravitons) will depend upon their frequency and the effective Newtonian potential will have a Yukawa form. In the case of inspiralling compact binaries, gravitational waves emitted at low frequency early in the inspiral will travel slightly slower than those emitted at high frequency later, modifying the phase evolution of the observed inspiral gravitational waveform, similar to that caused by post-Newtonian corrections to quadrupole phasing. Matched filtering of the waveforms can bound such frequency-dependent variations in propagation speed, and thereby bound the graviton mass. The bound depends on the mass of the source and on noise characteristics of the detector, but is independent of the distance to the source, except for weak cosmological redshift effects. For observations of stellar-mass compact inspiral using ground-based interferometers of the LIGO/VIRGO type, the bound on the graviton Compton wavelength is of the order of $6 \times 10^{12}$ km, about double that from solar-system tests of Yukawa modifications of Newtonian gravity. For observations of super-massive black hole binary inspiral at cosmological distances using the proposed laser interferometer space antenna (LISA), the bound can be as large as $6 \times 10^{16}$ km. This is three orders of magnitude weaker than model-dependent bounds from galactic cluster dynamics.Comment: 8 pages, RevTeX, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Forced oscillations in a hydrodynamical accretion disk and QPOs

This is the second of a series of papers aimed to look for an explanation on the generation of high frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in accretion disks around neutron star, black hole, and white dwarf binaries. The model is inspired by the general idea of a resonance mechanism in the accretion disk oscillations as was already pointed out by Abramowicz & Klu{\'z}niak (\cite{Abramowicz2001}). In a first paper (P\'etri \cite{Petri2005a}, paper I), we showed that a rotating misaligned magnetic field of a neutron star gives rise to some resonances close to the inner edge of the accretion disk. In this second paper, we suggest that this process does also exist for an asymmetry in the gravitational potential of the compact object. We prove that the same physics applies, at least in the linear stage of the response to the disturbance in the system. This kind of asymmetry is well suited for neutron stars or white dwarfs possessing an inhomogeneous interior allowing for a deviation from a perfectly spherically symmetric gravitational field. We show by a linear analysis that the disk initially in a cylindrically symmetric stationary state is subject to three kinds of resonances: a corotation resonance, a Lindblad resonance due to a driven force and a parametric sonance. The highest kHz QPOs are then interpreted as the orbital frequency of the disk at locations where the response to the resonances are maximal. It is also found that strong gravity is not required to excite the resonances.Comment: Accepte

Detectability of gravitational wave events by spherical resonant-mass antennas

We have calculated signal-to-noise ratios for eight spherical resonant-mass antennas interacting with gravitational radiation from inspiralling and coalescing binary neutron stars and from the dynamical and secular bar-mode instability of a rapidly rotating star. We find that by using technology that could be available in the next several years, spherical antennas can detect neutron star inspiral and coalescence at a distance of 15 Mpc and the dynamical bar-mode instability at a distance of 2 Mpc.Comment: 39 pages, 4 EPS Figures, some additional SNRs for secular instabilities, some changes to LIGO SNRs, Appendix added on the asymptotic expansion of energy sensitivity, corrected supernova rates. Results available at http://www.physics.umd.edu/rgroups/gen_rel_exp/snr.html Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Anatomy and origin of authochthonous late Pleistocene forced regression deposits, east Coromandel inner shelf, New Zealand: implications for the development and definition of the regressive systems tract

High-resolution seismic reflection data from the east Coromandel coast, New Zealand, provide details of the sequence stratigraphy beneath an autochthonous, wave dominated inner shelf margin during the late Quaternary (0-140 ka). Since c. 1 Ma, the shelf has experienced limited subsidence and fluvial sediment input, producing a depositional regime characterised by extensive reworking of coastal and shelf sediments during glacio-eustatic sea-level fluctuations. It appears that only one complete fifth-order (c. 100 000 yr) depositional sequence is preserved beneath the inner shelf, the late Pleistocene Waihi Sequence, suggesting any earlier Quaternary sequences were mainly cannibalised into successively younger sequences. The predominantly Holocene-age Whangamata Sequence is also evident in seismic data and modern coastal deposits, and represents an incomplete depositional sequence in its early stages of formation. A prominent aspect of the sequence stratigraphy off parts of the east Coromandel coast is the presence of forced regressive deposits (FRDs) within the regressive systems tract (RST) of the late Pleistocene Waihi Sequence. The FRDs are interpreted to represent regressive barrier-shoreface sands that were sourced from erosion and onshore reworking of underlying Pleistocene sediments during the period of slow falling sea level from isotope stages 5 to 2 (c. 112-18 ka). The RST is volumetrically the most significant depositional component of the Waihi Sequence; the regressive deposits form a 15-20 m thick, sharp-based, tabular seismic unit that downsteps and progrades continuously across the inner shelf. The sequence boundary for the Waihi Sequence is placed at the most prominent, regionally correlative, and chronostratigraphically significant surface, namely an erosional unconformity characterised in many areas by large incised valleys that was generated above the RST. This unconformity is interpreted as a surface of maximum subaerial erosion generated during the last glacial lowstand (c. 18 ka). Although the base of the RST is associated with a prominent regressive surface of erosion, this is not used as the sequence boundary as it is highly diachronous and difficult to identify and correlate where FRDs are not developed. The previous highstand deposits are limited to subaerial barrier deposits preserved behind several modern Holocene barriers along the coast, while the transgressive systems tract is preserved locally as incised-valley fill deposits beneath the regressive surface of erosion at the base of the RST. Many documented late Pleistocene RSTs have been actively sourced from fluvial systems feeding the shelf and building basinward-thickening, often stacked wedges of FRDs, for which the name allochthonous FRDs is suggested. The Waihi Sequence RST is unusual in that it appears to have been sourced predominantly from reworking of underlying shelf sediments, and thus represents an autochthonous FRD. Autochthonous FRDs are also present on the Forster-Tuncurry shelf in southeast Australia, and may be a common feature in other shelf settings with low subsidence and low sediment supply rates, provided shelf gradients are not too steep, and an underlying source of unconsolidated shelf sediments is available to source FRDs. The preservation potential of such autochthonous FRDs in ancient deposits is probably low given that they are likely to be cannibalised during subsequent sea-level falls

Evolution of the 0.01 - 25 Hz power spectral components in Cygnus X-1

Analyzing the archival data from the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), we study the power density spectra (PDS) of Cygnus X-1 from 1996 to 2003 in the frequency range of 0.01 - 25 Hz. With our model we are able to track the evolution of the Lorentzian components through all spectral states of the source. We confirm the relation between characteristic frequencies seen both in black hole candidate and neutron star sources, and show the changes in this relation during the transitional and soft states of the source. The connection between the Lorentzian components is investigated by analyzing similarities and differences in their behavior. We find that the spectral state of the source can be uniquely determined from the parameters of the these components. The parameter correlations can all be described by continuous functions, which differ between components. We discuss our results in the context of relativistic precession model for the accretion disk, and show a remarkable agreement between the model prediction and the data in the hard state. We estimate a value for the specific angular momentum of a=+0.49 (-0.57) in the case of prograde retrograde) rotation and an estimate for the inner radius of 22 to 50 (25 to 55) gravitational radii.Comment: 15 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Scaling solutions from interacting fluids

We examine the dynamical implications of an interaction between some of the fluid components of the universe. We consider the combination of three matter components, one of which is a perfect fluid and the other two are interacting. The interaction term generalizes the cases found in scalar field cosmologies with an exponential potential. We find that attracting scaling solutions are obtained in several regions of parameter space, that oscillating behaviour is possible, and that new curvature scaling solutions exist. We also discuss the inflationary behaviour of the solutions and present some of the constraints on the strength of the coupling, namely those arising from nucleosynthesis.Comment: RevTeX, 21 pages, 8 figure

Fast variability from black-hole binaries

Currently available information on fast variability of the X-ray emission from accreting collapsed objects constitutes a complex phenomenology which is difficult to interpret. We review the current observational standpoint for black-hole binaries and survey models that have been proposed to interpret it. Despite the complex structure of the accretion flow, key observational diagnostics have been identified which can provide direct access to the dynamics of matter motions in the close vicinity of black holes and thus to the some of fundamental properties of curved spacetimes, where strong-field general relativistic effects can be observed.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews. Also to appear in hard cover in the Space Sciences Series of ISSI "The Physics of Accretion onto Black Holes" (Springer Publisher