There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

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.

/pdf/the-observation-of-gravitational-waves-from-a-binary-black-58srpupgg9.pdf

The Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger

We report on gravitational wave discoveries from compact binary coalescences detected by Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo in the first half of the third observing run (O3a) between 1 April 2019 15:00 UTC and 1 October 2019 15:00. By imposing a false-alarm-rate threshold of two per year in each of the four search pipelines that constitute our search, we present 39 candidate gravitational wave events. At this threshold, we expect a contamination fraction of less than 10%. Of these, 26 candidate events were reported previously in near real-time through GCN Notices and Circulars; 13 are reported here for the first time. The catalog contains events whose sources are black hole binary mergers up to a redshift of ~0.8, as well as events whose components could not be unambiguously identified as black holes or neutron stars. For the latter group, we are unable to determine the nature based on estimates of the component masses and spins from gravitational wave data alone. The range of candidate events which are unambiguously identified as binary black holes (both objects $\geq 3~M_\odot$) is increased compared to GWTC-1, with total masses from $\sim 14~M_\odot$ for GW190924_021846 to $\sim 150~M_\odot$ for GW190521. For the first time, this catalog includes binary systems with significantly asymmetric mass ratios, which had not been observed in data taken before April 2019. We also find that 11 of the 39 events detected since April 2019 have positive effective inspiral spins under our default prior (at 90% credibility), while none exhibit negative effective inspiral spin. Given the increased sensitivity of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo, the detection of 39 candidate events in ~26 weeks of data (~1.5 per week) is consistent with GWTC-1.

GWTC-2: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the First Half of the Third Observing Run

Very compact objects probe extreme gravitational fields and may be the key to understand outstanding puzzles in fundamental physics. These include the nature of dark matter, the fate of spacetime singularities, or the loss of unitarity in Hawking evaporation. The standard astrophysical description of collapsing objects tells us that massive, dark and compact objects are black holes. Any observation suggesting otherwise would be an indication of beyond-the-standard-model physics. Null results strengthen and quantify the Kerr black hole paradigm. The advent of gravitational-wave astronomy and precise measurements with very long baseline interferometry allow one to finally probe into such foundational issues. We overview the physics of exotic dark compact objects and their observational status, including the observational evidence for black holes with current and future experiments.

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Testing the nature of dark compact objects: a status report

The production of about half of the heavy elements found in nature is assigned to a specific astrophysical nucleosynthesis process: the rapid neutron capture process (r-process). Although this idea has been postulated more than six decades ago, the full understanding faces two types of uncertainties/open questions: (a) The nucleosynthesis path in the nuclear chart runs close to the neutron-drip line, where presently only limited experimental information is available, and one has to rely strongly on theoretical predictions for nuclear properties. (b) While for many years the occurrence of the r-process has been associated with supernovae, more recent studies have cast substantial doubts on this environment. Alternative scenarios include the mergers of neutron stars, neutron-star black hole mergers, but possibly also rare classes of supernovae as well as hypernovae/collapsars with polar jet ejecta and also accretion disk outflows related to the collapse of fast rotating massive stars with high magnetic fields. Stellar r-process abundance observations, have provided insights into, and constraints on the frequency of and conditions in the responsible stellar production sites. One of them, neutron star mergers, was just identified and related to the Gravitational Wave event GW170817. High resolution observations, increasingly more precise due to improved experimental atomic data, have been particularly important in defining the heavy element abundance patterns of the old halo stars, and thus determining the extent, and nature, of the earliest nucleosynthesis in our Galaxy. Combining new results and important breakthroughs in the related nuclear, atomic and astronomical fields of science, this review attempts to provide an answer to the question "How Were the Elements from Iron to Uranium Made?" (Abridged)

Origin of the heaviest elements: The rapid neutron-capture process

The combined detection of a binary neutron-star merger in both gravitational waves (GWs) and electromagnetic (EM) radiation spanning the entire spectrum -- GW170817 / AT2017gfo / GRB170817A -- marks a breakthrough in the field of multi-messenger astronomy. Between the plethora of modeling and observations, the rich synergy that exists among the available data sets creates a unique opportunity to constrain the binary parameters, the equation of state of supranuclear density matter, and the physical processes at work during the kilonova and gamma-ray burst. We report, for the first time, Bayesian parameter estimation combining information from GW170817, AT2017gfo, GRB170817 to obtain truly multi-messenger constraints on the tidal deformability $\tilde{\Lambda} \in [302,860]$, total binary mass $M \in [2.722,2.751] M_\odot$, the radius of a $1.4$ solar mass neutron star $R \in [11.3,13.5] \rm km$ (with additional $0.2\ \rm km$ systematic uncertainty), and an upper bound on the mass ratio of $q \leq 1.27$, all at 90% confidence. Our joint novel analysis makes use of new phenomenological descriptions of the dynamical ejecta, debris disk mass, and remnant black hole properties, all derived from a large suite of numerical relativity simulations.

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Multimessenger Bayesian parameter inference of a binary neutron star merger

Axions are a potential dark matter candidate, which may condense and form self-gravitating compact objects, called axion stars (ASs). In this work, we study for the first time head-on collisions of relativistic ASs with black holes (BHs) and neutron stars (NSs). In the case of BH-AS mergers we find that, in general, the largest scalar clouds are produced by mergers of low compactness ASs and spinning BHs. Although in most of the cases which we study the majority of the mass is absorbed by the BH within a short time after the merger, in favorable cases the remaining cloud surrounding the final BH remnant can be as large as 30% of the initial axion star mass, with a bosonic cloud mass of $\mathcal{O}({10}^{\ensuremath{-}1}){M}_{\mathrm{BH}}$ and peak energy density comparable to that obtained in a superradiant buildup. This provides a dynamical mechanism for the formation of long lived scalar hair, which could lead to observable signals in cases where the axion interacts with baryonic matter around the BH, or where it forms the seed of a future superradiant buildup in highly spinning cases. Considering NS-AS collisions we find two possible final states: (i) a BH surrounded by a (small) scalar cloud, or (ii) a stable NS enveloped in an axion cloud of roughly the same mass as the initial AS. While for low mass ASs the NS is only mildly perturbed by the collision, a larger mass AS gives rise to a massive ejection of baryonic mass from the system, purely due to gravitational effects. Therefore, even in the absence of a direct axion coupling to baryonic matter, NS-AS collisions could give rise to electromagnetic observables in addition to their gravitational wave signatures.

Axion star collisions with black holes and neutron stars in full 3D numerical relativity

Gravitational wave (GW) astronomy has consolidated its role as a new observational window to reveal the properties of compact binaries in the Universe. In particular, the discovery of the first binary neutron star coalescence, GW170817, led to a number of scientific breakthroughs as the possibility to place constraints on the equation of state of cold matter at supranuclear densities. These constraints and all scientific results based on them require accurate models describing the GW signal to extract the source properties from the measured signal. In this article, we study potential systematic biases during the extraction of parameters from non-spinning sources using different descriptions for both, the point-particle dynamics and tidal effects. We find that for the considered cases the mass and spin recovery show almost no systematic bias with respect to the chosen waveform model. However, the extracted tidal effects can be strongly biased, where we find generally that Post-Newtonian approximants predict neutron stars with larger deformability and radii than numerical relativity tuned models. Noteworthy, an increase in the post-Newtonian order in the tidal phasing does not lead to a monotonic change in the estimated properties. We find that for a signal with strength similar to GW170817, but observed with design sensitivity with the network of the two LIGO detectors and the Virgo detector, the estimated tidal parameters can differ by more than a factor of two depending on the employed tidal description of the waveform approximant. This shows the current need for the development of better waveform models to extract reliably the source properties from upcoming GW detections.

Waveform systematics for binary neutron star gravitational wave signals: Effects of the point-particle baseline and tidal descriptions

With the first direct detections of gravitational waves (GWs) from the coalescence of compact binaries observed by the advanced LIGO and VIRGO interferometers, the era of GW astronomy has begun. Whilst there is strong evidence that the observed GWs are connected to the merger of two black holes (BH) or two neutron stars (NS), future detections may present a less consistent picture. Indeed, the possibility that the observed GW signal was created by a merger of exotic compact objects (ECOs) such as boson stars (BS) or axion stars (AS) has not yet been fully excluded. For a detailed understanding of the late stages of the coalescence full 3D numerical relativity simulations are essential. In this paper, we extend the infrastructure of the numerical relativity code BAM, to permit the simultaneous simulation of baryonic matter with bosonic scalar fields, thus enabling the study of BS-BS, BS-NS, and BS-BH mergers. We present a large number of single star evolutions to test the newly implemented routines, and to quantify the numerical challenges of such simulations, which we find to partially differ from the default NS case. We also compare head-on BS-BS simulations with independent numerical relativity codes, namely the SpEC and the GRChombo codes, and find good general agreement. Finally, we present what are, to the best of our knowledge, the first full NR simulations of BS-NS mergers, a first step towards identifying the hallmarks of BS-NS interactions in the strong gravity regime, as well as possible GW and electromagnetic observables.

Full 3D Numerical Relativity Simulations of Neutron Star -- Boson Star Collisions with BAM

With the first direct detections of gravitational waves (GWs) from the coalescence of compact binaries observed by the advanced LIGO and VIRGO interferometers, the era of GW astronomy has begun Whilst there is strong evidence that the observed GWs are connected to the merger of two black holes (BH) or two neutron stars (NS), future detections may present a less consistent picture Indeed, the possibility that the observed GW signal was created by a merger of exotic compact objects (ECOs) such as boson stars (BS) or axion stars (AS) has not yet been fully excluded For a detailed understanding of the late stages of the coalescence full 3D numerical relativity simulations are essential In this paper, we extend the infrastructure of the numerical relativity code BAM, to permit the simultaneous simulation of baryonic matter with bosonic scalar fields, thus enabling the study of BS-BS, BS-NS, and BS-BH mergers We present a large number of single star evolutions to test the newly implemented routines, and to quantify the numerical challenges of such simulations, which we find to partially differ from the default NS case We also compare head-on BS-BS simulations with independent numerical relativity codes, namely the SpEC and the GRChombo codes, and find good general agreement Finally, we present what are, to the best of our knowledge, the first full NR simulations of BS-NS mergers, a first step towards identifying the hallmarks of BS-NS interactions in the strong gravity regime, as well as possible GW and electromagnetic observables

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6382/aaf43e/pdf

Tim Dietrich

Papers

Multimessenger Bayesian parameter inference of a binary neutron star merger

Axion star collisions with black holes and neutron stars in full 3D numerical relativity

Waveform systematics for binary neutron star gravitational wave signals: Effects of the point-particle baseline and tidal descriptions

Full 3D Numerical Relativity Simulations of Neutron Star -- Boson Star Collisions with BAM

Full 3D numerical relativity simulations of neutron star–boson star collisions with BAM