On September 14, 2015 at 09:50:45 UTC the two detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory simultaneously observed a transient gravitational-wave signal. The signal sweeps upwards in frequency from 35 to 250 Hz with a peak gravitational-wave strain of 1.0×10(-21). It matches the waveform predicted by general relativity for the inspiral and merger of a pair of black holes and the ringdown of the resulting single black hole. The signal was observed with a matched-filter signal-to-noise ratio of 24 and a false alarm rate estimated to be less than 1 event per 203,000 years, equivalent to a significance greater than 5.1σ. The source lies at a luminosity distance of 410(-180)(+160)  Mpc corresponding to a redshift z=0.09(-0.04)(+0.03). In the source frame, the initial black hole masses are 36(-4)(+5)M⊙ and 29(-4)(+4)M⊙, and the final black hole mass is 62(-4)(+4)M⊙, with 3.0(-0.5)(+0.5)M⊙c(2) radiated in gravitational waves. All uncertainties define 90% credible intervals. These observations demonstrate the existence of binary stellar-mass black hole systems. This is the first direct detection of gravitational waves and the first observation of a binary black hole merger.

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The Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger

Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) has been observed in a dilute gas of sodium atoms. A Bose-Einstein condensate consists of a macroscopic population of the ground state of the system, and is a coherent state of matter. In an ideal gas, this phase transition is purely quantum-statistical. The study of BEC in weakly interacting systems which can be controlled and observed with precision holds the promise of revealing new macroscopic quantum phenomena that can be understood from first principles.

Bose-Einstein condensation in a gas of sodium atoms

Recent interest in aspects common to quantum information and condensed matter has prompted a flurry of activity at the border of these disciplines that were far distant until a few years ago. Numerous interesting questions have been addressed so far. Here an important part of this field, the properties of the entanglement in many-body systems, are reviewed. The zero and finite temperature properties of entanglement in interacting spin, fermion, and boson model systems are discussed. Both bipartite and multipartite entanglement will be considered. In equilibrium entanglement is shown tightly connected to the characteristics of the phase diagram. The behavior of entanglement can be related, via certain witnesses, to thermodynamic quantities thus offering interesting possibilities for an experimental test. Out of equilibrium entangled states are generated and manipulated by means of many-body Hamiltonians.

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Entanglement in many-body systems

Quasinormal modes are eigenmodes of dissipative systems. Perturbations of classical gravitational backgrounds involving black holes or branes naturally lead to quasinormal modes. The analysis and classification of the quasinormal spectra require solving non-Hermitian eigenvalue problems for the associated linear differential equations. Within the recently developed gauge-gravity duality, these modes serve as an important tool for determining the near-equilibrium properties of strongly coupled quantum field theories, in particular their transport coefficients, such as viscosity, conductivity and diffusion constants. In astrophysics, the detection of quasinormal modes in gravitational wave experiments would allow precise measurements of the mass and spin of black holes as well as new tests of general relativity. This review is meant as an introduction to the subject, with a focus on the recent developments in the field.

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Quasinormal modes of black holes and black branes

EDDINGTON'S “Internal Constitution of the Stars” was published in 1926 and gives what now ranks as a classical account of his own researches and of the general state of the theory at that time. Since then, a tremendous amount of work has appeared. Much of it has to do with the construction of stellar models with different equations of state applying in different zones. Other parts deal with the effects of varying chemical composition, with pulsation and tidal and rotational distortion of stars, and with the precise relations between the interior and the atmosphere of a star. The striking feature of all this work is that so much can be done without assuming any particular mechanism of stellar energy-generation. Only such very comprehensive assumptions are made about the distribution and behaviour of the energy sources that we may expect future knowledge of their mechanism to lead mainly to more detailed results within the framework of the existing general theory. An Introduction to the Study of Stellar Structure By S. Chandrasekhar. (Astrophysical Monographs sponsored by The Astrophysical Journal.) Pp. ix+509. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press; London: Cambridge University Press, 1939.) 50s. net.

An Introduction to the Study of Stellar Structure

An open system is not conservative because energy can escape to the outside. As a result, the time-evolution operator is not Hermitian in the usual sense and the eigenfunctions (factorized solutions in space and time) are no longer normal modes but quasinormal modes (QNMs) whose frequencies $\ensuremath{\omega}$ are complex. Qausinormal-mode analysis has been a powerful tool for investigating open systems. Previous studies have been mostly system specific, and use a few QNMs to provide approximate descriptions. Here the authors review developments that lead to a unifying treatment. The formulation leads to a mathematical structure in close analogy to that in conservative, Hermitian systems. Hence many of the mathematical tools for the latter can be transcribed. Emphasis is placed on those cases in which the QNMs form a complete set and thus give an exact description of the dynamics. In situations where the QNMs are not complete, the ``remainder'' is characterized. Applications to optics in microspheres and to gravitational waves from black holes are given as examples. The second-quantized theory is sketched. Directions for further development are outlined.

http://inspirehep.net/record/497865/files/arXiv:gr-qc_9904017.pdf

Quasinormal-mode expansion for waves in open systems

Laser cavities are open systems, in that energy can leak to the outside via output coupling. The ``normal modes'' are therefore quasinormal modes, with eigenvalues that are complex and eigenfunctions that extend outside the cavity, such that any normalization integral is dominated by the region outside; in short, such systems are non-Hermitian. This paper addresses the question: How is the complex eigenvalue (i.e., the mode frequency) changed when the cavity is perturbed by a small change of dielectric constant? The usual time-independent perturbation theory fails because of non-Hermiticity. By generalizing the work of Zeldovich [Sov. Phys.---JETP 12, 542 (1961)] for scalar fields in one dimension, we express the change of frequency in terms of matrix elements involving the unperturbed eigenfunctions, so that the problem is reduced to quadrature. We then apply the formalism to shape perturbations of a dielectric microdroplet, and give analytic formulas for the frequency shifts of the morphology-dependent resonances. These results are, surprisingly, independent of the radial wave function, so that all integrals can be performed and explicit algebraic expressions are given for axially symmetric perturbations.

Time-independent perturbation for leaking electromagnetic modes in open systems with application to resonances in microdroplets

We examine the spin-squeezing phenomena in a collection of interacting spins in the presence of an external field. We show that the combination of the external field and the nonlinear atom-atom interaction leads to a strong reduction of spin fluctuations that can be maintained in an extended period of time. Our results can be applied to achieve spin squeezing in a spinor Bose condensate.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/quant-ph/0007056.pdf

Coherent control of spin squeezing

We study universality in gravitational waves emitted from non-rotating neutron stars characterized by different equations of state (EOSs). We find that the quasi-normal mode frequencies of such waves, including the w-modes and the f-mode, display similar universal scaling behaviours that hold for most EOSs. Such behaviours are shown to stem from the mathematical structure of the axial and the polar gravitational wave equations, and the fact that the mass distribution function can be approximated by a cubic-quintic polynomial in the radius. As a benchmark for other realistic neutron stars, a simple model of neutron stars is adopted here to reproduce the pulsation frequencies and the generic scaling behaviours mentioned above with good accuracy.

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Universality in quasi-normal modes of neutron stars

The analytical expression for the lasing threshold for whispering-gallery-mode microsphere lasers under the strong-coupling condition is obtained by solving a quasi-three-level quantized model. It explicitly displays the dependence of the lasing threshold on the cavity radius, the homogeneous linewidth, the quality factors and linewidths of the relevant cavity modes.

P. T. Leung

Papers

Quasinormal-mode expansion for waves in open systems

Time-independent perturbation for leaking electromagnetic modes in open systems with application to resonances in microdroplets

Coherent control of spin squeezing

Universality in quasi-normal modes of neutron stars

Lasing threshold for whispering-gallery-mode microsphere lasers