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Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Gravitational waves

2016

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Prospects For Observing And Localizing Gravitational-Wave Transients With Advanced Ligo And Advanced Virgo, Benjamin P. Abbott, Marco Cavaglia, For Full List Of Authors, See Publisher's Website. Dec 2016

Prospects For Observing And Localizing Gravitational-Wave Transients With Advanced Ligo And Advanced Virgo, Benjamin P. Abbott, Marco Cavaglia, For Full List Of Authors, See Publisher's Website.

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present a possible observing scenario for the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave detectors over the next decade, with the intention of providing information to the astronomy community to facilitate planning for multi-messenger astronomy with gravitational waves. We determine the expected sensitivity of the network to transient gravitational-wave signals, and study the capability of the network to determine the sky location of the source. We report our findings for gravitational-wave transients, with particular focus on gravitational-wave signals from the inspiral of binary neutron-star systems, which are considered the most promising for multi-messenger astronomy. The ability to localize the sources …


The Rate Of Binary Black Hole Mergers Inferred From Advanced Ligo Observations Surrounding Gw150914, Benjamin P. Abbott, Marco Cavaglia, For Full List Of Authors, See Publisher's Website. Nov 2016

The Rate Of Binary Black Hole Mergers Inferred From Advanced Ligo Observations Surrounding Gw150914, Benjamin P. Abbott, Marco Cavaglia, For Full List Of Authors, See Publisher's Website.

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

A transient gravitational-wave signal, GW150914, was identified in the twin Advanced LIGO detectors on 2015 September 2015 at 09:50:45 UTC. To assess the implications of this discovery, the detectors remained in operation with unchanged configurations over a period of 39 days around the time of the signal. At the detection statistic threshold corresponding to that observed for GW150914, our search of the 16 days of simultaneous two-detector observational data is estimated to have a false-alarm rate (FAR) of < 4.9 x 10-6 yr-1, yielding a p-value for GW150914 of < 2 x 10-7. Parameter estimation follow-up on this trigger identifies its source …


Localization And Broadband Follow-Up Of The Gravitational-Wave Transient Gw150914, Benjamin P. Abbott, Marco Cavaglia, For Full List Of Authors, See Publisher's Website. Jul 2016

Localization And Broadband Follow-Up Of The Gravitational-Wave Transient Gw150914, Benjamin P. Abbott, Marco Cavaglia, For Full List Of Authors, See Publisher's Website.

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

A gravitational-wave (GW) transient was identified in data recorded by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors on 2015 September 14. The event, initially designated G184098 and later given the name GW150914, is described in detail elsewhere. By prior arrangement, preliminary estimates of the time, significance, and sky location of the event were shared with 63 teams of observers covering radio, optical, near-infrared, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths with ground- and space-based facilities. In this Letter we describe the low-latency analysis of the GW data and present the sky localization of the first observed compact binary merger. We summarize the …


Supplement: "Localization And Broadband Follow-Up Of The Gravitational-Wave Transient Gw150914" (2016, Apjl, 826, L13), Benjamin P. Abbott, Marco Cavaglia, For Full List Of Authors, See Publisher's Website. Jul 2016

Supplement: "Localization And Broadband Follow-Up Of The Gravitational-Wave Transient Gw150914" (2016, Apjl, 826, L13), Benjamin P. Abbott, Marco Cavaglia, For Full List Of Authors, See Publisher's Website.

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

This Supplement provides supporting material for Abbott et al. (2016a). We briefly summarize past electromagnetic (EM) follow-up efforts as well as the organization and policy of the current EM follow-up program. We compare the four probability sky maps produced for the gravitational-wave transient GW150914, and provide additional details of the EM follow-up observations that were performed in the different bands.


Astrophysical Implications Of The Binary Black Hole Merger Gw150914, Benjamin P. Abbott, Marco Cavaglia, For Full List Of Authors, See Publisher's Website. Feb 2016

Astrophysical Implications Of The Binary Black Hole Merger Gw150914, Benjamin P. Abbott, Marco Cavaglia, For Full List Of Authors, See Publisher's Website.

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

The discovery of the gravitational-wave (GW) source GW150914 with the Advanced LIGO detectors provides the first observational evidence for the existence of binary black hole (BH) systems that inspiral and merge within the age of the universe. Such BH mergers have been predicted in two main types of formation models, involving isolated binaries in galactic fields or dynamical interactions in young and old dense stellar environments. The measured masses robustly demonstrate that relatively "heavy" BHs (≳25 M) can form in nature. This discovery implies relatively weak massive-star winds and thus the formation of GW150914 in an environment with …