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Articles 1 - 15 of 15
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Quantifying Night Sky Fluctuations: Striving For A Multi-Messenger Astronomy, Rachel K. Nydegger, Shane L. Larson Ph.D.
Quantifying Night Sky Fluctuations: Striving For A Multi-Messenger Astronomy, Rachel K. Nydegger, Shane L. Larson Ph.D.
Browse All Undergraduate research
With LIGO coming back online soon, astronomers are attempting to solve the problems involved with coupling gravitational observations with electromagnetic telescope observations. To do this, my project aims to create all-sky surveys to characterize natural variability to reduce "false-alarm" rates in detections of gravitational emissions.
Prospects For Observing Ultracompact Binaries With Space-Based Gravitational Wave Interferometers And Optical Telescopes., T. B. Littenberg, Shane L. Larson, G. Nelemans Department Of Astrophysics, Radboud University Nijmegen, N. J. Cornish
Prospects For Observing Ultracompact Binaries With Space-Based Gravitational Wave Interferometers And Optical Telescopes., T. B. Littenberg, Shane L. Larson, G. Nelemans Department Of Astrophysics, Radboud University Nijmegen, N. J. Cornish
All Physics Faculty Publications
Space-based gravitational wave interferometers are sensitive to the galactic population of ultra-compact binaries. An important subset of the ultra-compact binary popula- tion are those stars that can be individually resolved by both gravitational wave in- terferometers and electromagnetic telescopes. The aim of this paper is to quantify the multi-messenger potential of space-based interferometers with arm-lengths between 1 and 5 Gm. The Fisher Information Matrix is used to estimate the number of binaries from a model of the Milky Way which are localized on the sky by the gravitational wave detector to within 1 and 10 deg2 and bright enough to …
Characterizing Sky Variability For Multi-Messenger Astronomy, Rachel Nydegger
Characterizing Sky Variability For Multi-Messenger Astronomy, Rachel Nydegger
UCUR
Multi-messenger astronomy employs both electromagnetic and gravitational -wave detectors to paint a richer picture of celestial objects, providing more depth and information. The interferometers utilized for gravitational-wave observations receive input from very broad fields of view on the sky, typically a few square degrees. To have simultaneous electromagnetic observations (typically less than one square degree) requires innovative techniques for the telescopes to find the origin of radiation. One idea is to “tile” the view of the interferometer, using multiple telescopes to simultaneously point at different areas of the field to observe the source. One di"culty of this observing paradigm is …
Characterizing Sky Variability For Multi-Messenger Astronomy, Rachel Nydegger, Katie Breivik, Shane L. Larson
Characterizing Sky Variability For Multi-Messenger Astronomy, Rachel Nydegger, Katie Breivik, Shane L. Larson
Browse All Undergraduate research
Multi-messenger astronomy employs both electromagnetic and gravitational wave detectors to paint a richer picture of celestial objects, providing more depth and in formation. Localizing sources with gravitational wave interferometers on the sky is difficult, with resolution of many square degrees. To have simultaneous electromagnetic observations (localized typically to less than one square degree) requires innovative techniques for the telescopes to find the origin of radiation. One idea is to tile the view of the interferometer, using multiple telescopes to simultaneously point at different areas of the field to observe the source. One problematic aspect of this observing paradigm is distinguishing …
Constraining The Black Hole Mass Spectrum With Gravitational Wave Observations – I. The Error Kernel, Danny C. Jacobs, Joseph E. Plowman, Ronald W. Hellings, Sachiko Tsuruta, Shane L. Larson
Constraining The Black Hole Mass Spectrum With Gravitational Wave Observations – I. The Error Kernel, Danny C. Jacobs, Joseph E. Plowman, Ronald W. Hellings, Sachiko Tsuruta, Shane L. Larson
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Many scenarios have been proposed for the origin of the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) that are found in the centres of most galaxies. Many of these formation scenarios predict a high-redshift population of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), with masses M• in the range 102≲M•≲ 105 M⊙. A powerful way to observe these IMBHs is via gravitational waves the black holes emit as they merge. The statistics of the observed black hole population should, in principle, allow us to discriminate between competing astrophysical scenarios for the origin and formation of SMBHs. However, …
Lisa: Seeing The Cosmos In Low Frequency Gravitational Waves, Shane L. Larson
Lisa: Seeing The Cosmos In Low Frequency Gravitational Waves, Shane L. Larson
Colloquia and Seminars
No abstract provided.
Gravity Has A Story To Tell: Lisa And The Search For Low Frequency Gravitational Waves, Shane L. Larson
Gravity Has A Story To Tell: Lisa And The Search For Low Frequency Gravitational Waves, Shane L. Larson
Colloquia and Seminars
No abstract provided.
Vignettes From The World Of Gravitational Wave Astrophysics, Shane L. Larson
Vignettes From The World Of Gravitational Wave Astrophysics, Shane L. Larson
Colloquia and Seminars
No abstract provided.
Songs From The Milky Way: Our Galaxy In Low Frequency Gravitational Waves, Shane L. Larson
Songs From The Milky Way: Our Galaxy In Low Frequency Gravitational Waves, Shane L. Larson
Colloquia and Seminars
No abstract provided.
Whispers From The Cosmos: Seeing The Universe In Gravitational Waves, Shane L. Larson
Whispers From The Cosmos: Seeing The Universe In Gravitational Waves, Shane L. Larson
Colloquia and Seminars
No abstract provided.
Gravitational Wave Bursts From The Galactic Massive Black Hole, Clovis Hopman, Marc Freitag, Shane L. Larson
Gravitational Wave Bursts From The Galactic Massive Black Hole, Clovis Hopman, Marc Freitag, Shane L. Larson
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The Galactic massive black hole (MBH), with a mass of M•= 3.6 × 106 M⊙, is the closest known MBH, at a distance of only 8 kpc. The proximity of this MBH makes it possible to observe gravitational waves (GWs) from stars with periapse in the observational frequency window of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). This is possible even if the orbit of the star is very eccentric, so that the orbital frequency is many orders of magnitude below the LISA frequency window, as suggested by Rubbo, Holley-Bockelmann & Finn (2006). …
Lisa Time-Delay Interferometry Zero-Signal Solution: Geometrical Properties, Massimo Tinto, Shane L. Larson
Lisa Time-Delay Interferometry Zero-Signal Solution: Geometrical Properties, Massimo Tinto, Shane L. Larson
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Time-delay interferometry (TDI) is the data processing technique needed for generating interferometric combinations of data measured by the multiple Doppler readouts available onboard the three Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) spacecraft. Within the space of all possible interferometric combinations TDI can generate, we have derived a specific combination that has zero response to the gravitational wave signal, and called it the zero-signal solution (ZSS). This is a two-parameter family of linear combinations of the generators of the TDI space, and its response to a gravitational wave becomes null when these two parameters coincide with the values of the angles of …
Lisa, Binary Stars, And The Mass Of The Graviton, Curt Cutler, William A. Hiscock, Shane L. Larson
Lisa, Binary Stars, And The Mass Of The Graviton, Curt Cutler, William A. Hiscock, Shane L. Larson
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We extend and improve earlier estimates of the ability of the proposed LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) gravitational wave detector to place upper bounds on the graviton mass mg by comparing the arrival times of gravitational and electromagnetic signals from binary star systems. We show that the best possible limit on mg obtainable this way is ∼50 times better than the current limit set by solar system measurements. Among currently known, well-understood binaries, 4U1820-30 is the best for this purpose; LISA observations of 4U1820-30 should yield a limit ≈3-4 times better than the present solar system bound. AM …
Sensitivity Curves For Spaceborne Gravitational Wave Interferometers, Shane L. Larson, William A. Hiscock, Ronald W. Hellings
Sensitivity Curves For Spaceborne Gravitational Wave Interferometers, Shane L. Larson, William A. Hiscock, Ronald W. Hellings
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To determine whether particular sources of gravitational radiation will be detectable by a specific gravitational wave detector, it is necessary to know the sensitivity limits of the instrument. These instrumental sensitivities are often depicted (after averaging over source position and polarization) by graphing the minimal values of the gravitational wave amplitude detectable by the instrument versus the frequency of the gravitational wave. This paper describes in detail how to compute such a sensitivity curve given a set of specifications for a spaceborne laser interferometer gravitational wave observatory. Minor errors in the prior literature are corrected, and the first (mostly) analytic …
Using Binary Star Observations To Bound The Mass Of The Graviton, Shane L. Larson, William A. Hiscock
Using Binary Star Observations To Bound The Mass Of The Graviton, Shane L. Larson, William A. Hiscock
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Interacting white dwarf binary star systems, including helium cataclysmic variable (HeCV) systems, are expected to be strong sources of gravitational radiation, and should be detectable by proposed space-based laser interferometer gravitational wave observatories such as LISA. Several HeCV star systems are presently known and can be studied optically, which will allow electromagnetic and gravitational wave observations to be correlated. Comparisons of the phases of a gravitational wave signal and the orbital light curve from an interacting binary white dwarf star system can be used to bound the mass of the graviton. Observations of typical HeCV systems by LISA could potentially …