GW170817: observation of gravitational waves from a binary neutron star inspiral
TL;DR: The association of GRB 170817A, detected by Fermi-GBM 1.7 s after the coalescence, corroborates the hypothesis of a neutron star merger and provides the first direct evidence of a link between these mergers and short γ-ray bursts.
Abstract: On August 17, 2017 at 12∶41:04 UTC the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave detectors made their first observation of a binary neutron star inspiral. The signal, GW170817, was detected with a combined signal-to-noise ratio of 32.4 and a false-alarm-rate estimate of less than one per 8.0×10^{4} years. We infer the component masses of the binary to be between 0.86 and 2.26 M_{⊙}, in agreement with masses of known neutron stars. Restricting the component spins to the range inferred in binary neutron stars, we find the component masses to be in the range 1.17-1.60 M_{⊙}, with the total mass of the system 2.74_{-0.01}^{+0.04}M_{⊙}. The source was localized within a sky region of 28 deg^{2} (90% probability) and had a luminosity distance of 40_{-14}^{+8} Mpc, the closest and most precisely localized gravitational-wave signal yet. The association with the γ-ray burst GRB 170817A, detected by Fermi-GBM 1.7 s after the coalescence, corroborates the hypothesis of a neutron star merger and provides the first direct evidence of a link between these mergers and short γ-ray bursts. Subsequent identification of transient counterparts across the electromagnetic spectrum in the same location further supports the interpretation of this event as a neutron star merger. This unprecedented joint gravitational and electromagnetic observation provides insight into astrophysics, dense matter, gravitation, and cosmology.
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University of Jyväskylä1, California Polytechnic State University2, University of California, Los Angeles3, Los Alamos National Laboratory4, National Research University – Higher School of Economics5, University of California, Berkeley6, University of Birmingham7, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation8, University of Washington9, University of Massachusetts Amherst10, University of West Bohemia11, Brigham Young University12, University of Texas at Austin13, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais14, Google15
TL;DR: SciPy as discussed by the authors is an open source scientific computing library for the Python programming language, which includes functionality spanning clustering, Fourier transforms, integration, interpolation, file I/O, linear algebra, image processing, orthogonal distance regression, minimization algorithms, signal processing, sparse matrix handling, computational geometry, and statistics.
Abstract: SciPy is an open source scientific computing library for the Python programming language. SciPy 1.0 was released in late 2017, about 16 years after the original version 0.1 release. SciPy has become a de facto standard for leveraging scientific algorithms in the Python programming language, with more than 600 unique code contributors, thousands of dependent packages, over 100,000 dependent repositories, and millions of downloads per year. This includes usage of SciPy in almost half of all machine learning projects on GitHub, and usage by high profile projects including LIGO gravitational wave analysis and creation of the first-ever image of a black hole (M87). The library includes functionality spanning clustering, Fourier transforms, integration, interpolation, file I/O, linear algebra, image processing, orthogonal distance regression, minimization algorithms, signal processing, sparse matrix handling, computational geometry, and statistics. In this work, we provide an overview of the capabilities and development practices of the SciPy library and highlight some recent technical developments.
12,774 citations
University of Jyväskylä1, University of California, Los Angeles2, California Polytechnic State University3, Los Alamos National Laboratory4, National Research University – Higher School of Economics5, University of California, Berkeley6, University of Birmingham7, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation8, University of Washington9, University of Massachusetts Amherst10, University of West Bohemia11, University of Texas at Austin12, Brigham Young University13, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais14, Google15
TL;DR: SciPy as discussed by the authors is an open-source scientific computing library for the Python programming language, which has become a de facto standard for leveraging scientific algorithms in Python, with over 600 unique code contributors, thousands of dependent packages, over 100,000 dependent repositories and millions of downloads per year.
Abstract: SciPy is an open-source scientific computing library for the Python programming language. Since its initial release in 2001, SciPy has become a de facto standard for leveraging scientific algorithms in Python, with over 600 unique code contributors, thousands of dependent packages, over 100,000 dependent repositories and millions of downloads per year. In this work, we provide an overview of the capabilities and development practices of SciPy 1.0 and highlight some recent technical developments.
6,244 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present cosmological parameter results from the full-mission Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies, combining information from the temperature and polarization maps and the lensing reconstruction.
Abstract: We present cosmological parameter results from the final full-mission Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies, combining information from the temperature and polarization maps and the lensing reconstruction Compared to the 2015 results, improved measurements of large-scale polarization allow the reionization optical depth to be measured with higher precision, leading to significant gains in the precision of other correlated parameters Improved modelling of the small-scale polarization leads to more robust constraints on manyparameters,withresidualmodellinguncertaintiesestimatedtoaffectthemonlyatthe05σlevelWefindgoodconsistencywiththestandard spatially-flat6-parameter ΛCDMcosmologyhavingapower-lawspectrumofadiabaticscalarperturbations(denoted“base ΛCDM”inthispaper), from polarization, temperature, and lensing, separately and in combination A combined analysis gives dark matter density Ωch2 = 0120±0001, baryon density Ωbh2 = 00224±00001, scalar spectral index ns = 0965±0004, and optical depth τ = 0054±0007 (in this abstract we quote 68% confidence regions on measured parameters and 95% on upper limits) The angular acoustic scale is measured to 003% precision, with 100θ∗ = 10411±00003Theseresultsareonlyweaklydependentonthecosmologicalmodelandremainstable,withsomewhatincreasederrors, in many commonly considered extensions Assuming the base-ΛCDM cosmology, the inferred (model-dependent) late-Universe parameters are: HubbleconstantH0 = (674±05)kms−1Mpc−1;matterdensityparameterΩm = 0315±0007;andmatterfluctuationamplitudeσ8 = 0811±0006 We find no compelling evidence for extensions to the base-ΛCDM model Combining with baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements (and consideringsingle-parameterextensions)weconstraintheeffectiveextrarelativisticdegreesoffreedomtobe Neff = 299±017,inagreementwith the Standard Model prediction Neff = 3046, and find that the neutrino mass is tightly constrained toPmν < 012 eV The CMB spectra continue to prefer higher lensing amplitudesthan predicted in base ΛCDM at over 2σ, which pulls some parameters that affect thelensing amplitude away from the ΛCDM model; however, this is not supported by the lensing reconstruction or (in models that also change the background geometry) BAOdataThejointconstraintwithBAOmeasurementsonspatialcurvatureisconsistentwithaflatuniverse, ΩK = 0001±0002Alsocombining with Type Ia supernovae (SNe), the dark-energy equation of state parameter is measured to be w0 = −103±003, consistent with a cosmological constant We find no evidence for deviations from a purely power-law primordial spectrum, and combining with data from BAO, BICEP2, and Keck Array data, we place a limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio r0002 < 006 Standard big-bang nucleosynthesis predictions for the helium and deuterium abundances for the base-ΛCDM cosmology are in excellent agreement with observations The Planck base-ΛCDM results are in good agreement with BAO, SNe, and some galaxy lensing observations, but in slight tension with the Dark Energy Survey’s combined-probe results including galaxy clustering (which prefers lower fluctuation amplitudes or matter density parameters), and in significant, 36σ, tension with local measurements of the Hubble constant (which prefer a higher value) Simple model extensions that can partially resolve these tensions are not favoured by the Planck data
4,688 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: The first direct detection of gravitational waves and the first observation of a binary black hole merger were reported in this paper, with a false alarm rate estimated to be less than 1 event per 203,000 years, equivalent to a significance greater than 5.1σ.
Abstract: 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.
4,375 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the cosmological parameter results from the final full-mission Planck measurements of the CMB anisotropies were presented, with good consistency with the standard spatially-flat 6-parameter CDM cosmology having a power-law spectrum of adiabatic scalar perturbations from polarization, temperature, and lensing separately and in combination.
Abstract: We present cosmological parameter results from the final full-mission Planck measurements of the CMB anisotropies. We find good consistency with the standard spatially-flat 6-parameter $\Lambda$CDM cosmology having a power-law spectrum of adiabatic scalar perturbations (denoted "base $\Lambda$CDM" in this paper), from polarization, temperature, and lensing, separately and in combination. A combined analysis gives dark matter density $\Omega_c h^2 = 0.120\pm 0.001$, baryon density $\Omega_b h^2 = 0.0224\pm 0.0001$, scalar spectral index $n_s = 0.965\pm 0.004$, and optical depth $\tau = 0.054\pm 0.007$ (in this abstract we quote $68\,\%$ confidence regions on measured parameters and $95\,\%$ on upper limits). The angular acoustic scale is measured to $0.03\,\%$ precision, with $100\theta_*=1.0411\pm 0.0003$. These results are only weakly dependent on the cosmological model and remain stable, with somewhat increased errors, in many commonly considered extensions. Assuming the base-$\Lambda$CDM cosmology, the inferred late-Universe parameters are: Hubble constant $H_0 = (67.4\pm 0.5)$km/s/Mpc; matter density parameter $\Omega_m = 0.315\pm 0.007$; and matter fluctuation amplitude $\sigma_8 = 0.811\pm 0.006$. We find no compelling evidence for extensions to the base-$\Lambda$CDM model. Combining with BAO we constrain the effective extra relativistic degrees of freedom to be $N_{\rm eff} = 2.99\pm 0.17$, and the neutrino mass is tightly constrained to $\sum m_
u< 0.12$eV. The CMB spectra continue to prefer higher lensing amplitudes than predicted in base -$\Lambda$CDM at over $2\,\sigma$, which pulls some parameters that affect the lensing amplitude away from the base-$\Lambda$CDM model; however, this is not supported by the lensing reconstruction or (in models that also change the background geometry) BAO data. (Abridged)
3,077 citations
References
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the gravitational radiation field of point particles with spins within the framework of the multipolar-post-Newtonian wave generation formalism and derived the spin-orbit coupling effects in the binary's mass and current quadrupole moments.
Abstract: Motivated by the search for gravitational waves emitted by binary black holes, we investigate the gravitational radiation field of point particles with spins within the framework of the multipolar-post-Newtonian wave generation formalism. We compute: (i) the spin-orbit (SO) coupling effects in the binary's mass and current quadrupole moments one post-Newtonian (1PN) order beyond the dominant effect, (ii) the SO contributions in the gravitational-wave energy flux and (iii) the secular evolution of the binary's orbital phase up to 2.5PN order. Crucial ingredients for obtaining the 2.5PN contribution in the orbital phase are the binary's energy and the spin precession equations, derived in paper I of this series. These results provide more accurate gravitational-wave templates to be used in the data analysis of rapidly rotating Kerr-type black-hole binaries with the ground-based detectors LIGO, Virgo, GEO 600 and TAMA300, and the space-based detector LISA.
173 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an analytical formalism, within the effective-one-body framework, was proposed to predict gravitational-wave signals from inspiralling and coalescing black-hole binaries that agree, within numerical errors, with the results of the currently most accurate numerical-relativity simulations for several different mass ratios.
Abstract: We present an analytical formalism, within the effective-one-body framework, which predicts gravitational-wave signals from inspiralling and coalescing black-hole binaries that agree, within numerical errors, with the results of the currently most accurate numerical-relativity simulations for several different mass ratios. In the equal-mass case, the gravitational-wave energy flux predicted by our formalism agrees, within numerical errors, with the most accurate numerical-relativity energy flux. We think that our formalism opens a realistic possibility of constructing a sufficiently accurate, large bank of gravitational-wave templates, as needed both for detection and data analysis of (nonspinning) coalescing binary black holes.
173 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that O(20) sources would be sufficient to distinguish between a stiff, moderate, and soft equation of state (e.g., NSS) using signals from coalescing binary neutron stars, or neutron star-black hole systems.
Abstract: Recently exploratory studies were performed on the possibility of constraining the neutron star equation of state (EOS) using signals from coalescing binary neutron stars, or neutron star–black hole systems, as they will be seen in upcoming advanced gravitational wave detectors such as Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo In particular, it was estimated to what extent the combined information from multiple detections would enable one to distinguish between different equations of state through hypothesis ranking or parameter estimation Under the assumption of zero neutron star spins both in signals and in template waveforms and considering tidal effects to 1 post-Newtonian (1PN) order, it was found that O(20) sources would suffice to distinguish between a stiff, moderate, and soft equation of state Here we revisit these results, this time including neutron star tidal effects to the highest order currently known, termination of gravitational waveforms at the contact frequency, neutron star spins, and the resulting quadrupole-monopole interaction We also take the masses of neutron stars in simulated sources to be distributed according to a relatively strongly peaked Gaussian, as hinted at by observations, but without assuming that the data analyst will necessarily have accurate knowledge of this distribution for use as a mass prior We find that especially the effect of the latter is dramatic, necessitating many more detections to distinguish between different EOSs and causing systematic biases in parameter estimation, on top of biases due to imperfect understanding of the signal model pointed out in earlier work This would get mitigated if reliable prior information about the mass distribution could be folded into the analyses
166 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, two search algorithms that implement logarithmic tiling of the time-frequency plane in order to efficiently detect astrophysically unmodelled bursts of gravitational radiation are presented.
Abstract: We present two search algorithms that implement logarithmic tiling of the time–frequency plane in order to efficiently detect astrophysically unmodelled bursts of gravitational radiation. The first is a straightforward application of the dyadic wavelet transform. The second is a modification of the windowed Fourier transform which tiles the time–frequency plane for a specific Q. In addition, we also demonstrate adaptive whitening by linear prediction, which greatly simplifies our statistical analysis. This is a methodology paper that aims to describe the techniques for identifying significant events as well as the necessary pre-processing that is required in order to improve their performance. For this reason we use simulated LIGO noise in order to illustrate the methods and to present their preliminary performance.
165 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an effective one-body model was proposed to describe the general relativistic dynamics of neutron star binaries from the early inspiral up to the merger, which is the first semianalytical model that captures the tidal amplification effects close to merger.
Abstract: The data analysis of the gravitational wave signals emitted by coalescing neutron star binaries requires the availability of an accurate analytical representation of the dynamics and waveforms of these systems. We propose an effective-one-body model that describes the general relativistic dynamics of neutron star binaries from the early inspiral up to the merger. Our effective-one-body model incorporates an enhanced attractive tidal potential motivated by recent analytical advances in the post-Newtonian and gravitational self-force description of relativistic tidal interactions. No fitting parameters are introduced for the description of tidal interaction in the late, strong-field dynamics. We compare the model energetics and the gravitational wave phasing with new high-resolution multiorbit numerical relativity simulations of equal-mass configurations with different equations of state. We find agreement within the uncertainty of the numerical data for all configurations. Our model is the first semianalytical model that captures the tidal amplification effects close to merger. It thereby provides the most accurate analytical representation of binary neutron star dynamics and waveforms currently available.
163 citations