Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons^™

Design And Fabrication Of Liquid Scintillator Counter, Andrea Calderon Saucedo, John L. Orrell

STAR Program Research Presentations

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is currently developing an ultra-low background liquid scintillator counter (ULB LSC) in the shallow underground laboratory. At a depth of 35-meters water-equivalent, the underground laboratory has a multi-layered shielding to keep out cosmic-ray induced background. The ULB LSC, which is located in a clean room facility, is a multi-layered design made up of various materials, including plastic scintillator veto panels, borated polyethylene, lead and copper. These layers help lower the contributions of the terrestrial background and intrinsic background, resulting from the impurities present in the materials, to the overall background count rate observed by the …

Energy Dependence Of Kπ, Pπ, And Kp Fluctuations In Au + Au Collisions From √SNn=7.7 To 200 Gev, James K. Adkins, Renee H. Fatemi, Suvarna Ramachandran, L. Adamczyk, G. Agakishiev, M. M. Aggarwal, Z. Ahammed, I. Alekseev, J. Alford, A. Aparin, D. Arkhipkin, E. C. Aschenauer, G. S. Averichev

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

A search for the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) critical point was performed by the STAR experiment at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, using dynamical fluctuations of unlike particle pairs. Heavy ion collisions were studied over a large range of collision energies with homogeneous acceptance and excellent particle identification, covering a significant range in the QCD phase diagram where a critical point may be located. Dynamical Kπ, pπ, and Kp fluctuations as measured by the STAR experiment in central 0–5% Au + Au collisions from center-of-mass collision energies √^sNN=7.7 to 200 GeV are presented. The observable …

Compton Scattering From The Deuteron Below Pion-Production Threshold, L. S. Myers, J. R. M. Annand, J. Brudvik, G. Feldman, K. G. Fissum, H. W. Grießhammer, K. Hansen, S. S. Henshaw, L. Isaksson, R. Jebali, Michael A. Kovash, M. Lundin, D. G. Middleton, A. M. Nathan, B. Schröder, S. C. Stave

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Differential cross sections for elastic scattering of photons from the deuteron have recently been measured at the Tagged-Photon Facility at theMAX IV Laboratory in Lund, Sweden. These first new measurements in more than a decade further constrain the isoscalar electromagnetic polarizabilities of the nucleon and provide the first-ever results above 100 MeV, where the sensitivity to the polarizabilities is increased. We add 23 points between 70 and 112 MeV, at angles 60^◦, 120^◦, and 150^◦. Analysis of these data using a chiral effective field theory indicates that the cross sections are both self-consistent and …

Measurements Of Dielectron Production In Au + Au Collisions At √SNn = 200 Gev From The Star Experiment, James K. Adkins, Renee H. Fatemi, Suvarna Ramachandran, L. Adamczyk, G. Agakishiev, M. M. Aggarwal, Z. Ahammed, I. Alekseev, J. Alford, A. Aparin, D. Arkhipkin, E. C. Aschenauer, G. S. Averichev

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We report on measurements of dielectron (e⁺e⁻) production in Au + Au collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 200 GeV per nucleon-nucleon pair using the STAR detector at BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Systematic measurements of the dielectron yield as a function of transverse momentum (p_T) and collision centrality show an enhancement compared to a cocktail simulation of hadronic sources in the low invariant-mass region (M_ee < 1 GeV/c²). This enhancement cannot be reproduced by the ρ-meson vacuum spectral function. In minimumbias collisions, in the invariant-mass range of 0.30–0.76 …

Rényi Entanglement Entropy Of Critical Su(N) Spin Chains, Jonathan D'Emidio, Matthew S. Block, Ribhu K. Kaul

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present a study of the scaling behavior of the Rényi entanglement entropy (REE) in SU(N) spin chain Hamiltonians, in which all of the spins transform under the fundamental representation. These SU(N) spin chains are known to be quantum critical and described by a well known Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) nonlinear sigma model in the continuum limit. Numerical results from our lattice Hamiltonian are obtained using stochastic series expansion quantum Monte Carlo for both closed and open boundary conditions. As expected for this 1D critical system, the REE shows a logarithmic dependence on the subsystem size with a …

Charm And Strange Quark Masses And FDS From Overlap Fermions, Yi-Bo Yang, Ying Chen, Andrei Alexandru, Shao-Jing Dong, Terrence Draper, Ming Gong, Frank X. Lee, Anyi Li, Keh-Fei Liu, Zhaofeng Liu, Michael Lujan

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We use overlap fermions as valence quarks to calculate meson masses in a wide quark mass range on the 2 + 1-flavor domain-wall fermion gauge configurations generated by the RBC and UKQCD Collaborations. . . .

For the remainder of the abstract, please download this article or visit https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.92.034517

The Lunar Exosphere: Spatial And Temporal Variations Of Sodium And Potassium Emissions From November 2013 To May 2014, Dona Chathuni P. Kuruppuaratchi

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

I apply high resolution spectroscopy to investigate the lunar exosphere by measuring sodium and potassium spectral line profiles to determine spatial and temporal variations in exospheric effective temperatures and velocities. Observations were made from the National Solar Observatory (MMP) at Kitt Peak, Arizona from November 2013 to May 2014, with the exception of March 2014. Data collection was centered of full moon and spanned several nights with lunar phase angle coverage ranging from 65.6° (waxing) to 78.7° (waning). Observations were concurrent with the NASA LADEE mission science and instrument testing phases. We used a dial etalon Fabry-Perot spectrometer with a …

Atomic Data And Spectral Model For Fe Ɪɪ, Manuel A. Bautista, Vanessa Fivet, Connor Ballance, Pascal Quinet, Gary J. Ferland, Claudio Mendoza, Timothy R. Kallman

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present extensive calculations of radiative transition rates and electron impact collision strengths for Fe ii. The data sets involve 52 levels from the 3d⁷, 3d⁶4s, and 3d⁵4s² configurations. Computations of A-values are carried out with a combination of state-of-the-art multiconfiguration approaches, namely the relativistic Hartree–Fock, Thomas–Fermi–Dirac potential, and Dirac–Fock methods, while the R-matrix plus intermediate coupling frame transformation, Breit–Pauli R-matrix, and Dirac R-matrix packages are used to obtain collision strengths. We examine the advantages and shortcomings of each of these methods, and …

Long-Range Pseudorapidity Dihadron Correlations In D + Au Collisions At √SNn = 200 Gev, James K. Adkins, Renee H. Fatemi, Suvarna Ramachandran, L. Adamczyk, G. Agakishiev, M. M. Aggarwal, Z. Ahammed, I. Alekseev, J. Alford, A. Aparin, D. Arkhipkin, E. C. Aschenauer, G. S. Averichev

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Dihadron angular correlations in d + Au collisions at √^sNN = 200 GeV are reported as a function of the measured zero-degree calorimeter neutral energy and the forward charged hadron multiplicity in the Au-beam direction. A finite correlated yield is observed at large relative pseudorapidity (Δη) on the near side (i.e. relative azimuth Δφ ~ 0). This correlated yield as a function of Δη appears to scale with the dominant, primarily jet-related, away-side (Δφ ~ π ) yield. The Fourier coefficients of the Δφ correlation, V_n = (cos nΔφ), have a strong Δη …

Constraining The Redshift Evolution Of The Cosmic Microwave Background Blackbody Temperature With Plank Data, I. De Martino, R. Génova-Santos, F. Atrio-Barandela, H. Ebeling, A. Kashlinsky, Dale D. Kocevski, C. J. A. P. Martins

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We constrain the deviation of adiabatic evolution of the universe using the data on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies measured by the Planck satellite and a sample of 481 X-ray selected clusters with spectroscopically measured redshifts. To avoid antenna beam effects, we bring all of the maps to the same resolution. We use a CMB template to subtract the cosmological signal while preserving the Thermal Sunyaev–Zeldovich (TSZ) anisotropies; next, we remove galactic foreground emissions around each cluster and we mask out all known point sources. If the CMB blackbody temperature scales with redshift as T(z) …

A Critical Assessment Of Stellar Mass Measurement Methods, Bahram Mobasher, Tomas Dahlen, Henry C. Ferguson, Viviana Acquaviva, Guillermo Barro, Steven L. Finkelstein, Adriano Fontana, Ruth Gruetzbauch, Seth Johnson, Yu Lu, Casey Papovich, Janine Pforr, Mara Salvato, Rachel S. Somerville, Tommy Wiklind, Stijn Wuyts, Matthew L.N. Ashby, Eric Bell, Christopher J. Conselice, Mark E. Dickinson, Sandra M. Faber, Giovanni Fazio, Kristian Finlator, Audrey Galametz, Eric Gawiser, Mauro Giavalisco, Andrea Grazian, Norman A. Grogin, Yicheng Guo, Nimish Hathi, Dale Kocevski, Anton M. Koekemoer, David C. Koo, Jeffrey A. Newman, Naveen Reddy, Paola Santini, Risa H. Wechsler

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

This is the second paper in a series aimed at investigating the main sources of uncertainty in measuring the observable parameters in galaxies from their spectral energy distributions (SEDs). In the first paper we presented a detailed account of the photometric redshift measurements and an error analysis of this process. In this paper we perform a comprehensive study of the main sources of random and systematic error in stellar mass estimates for galaxies, and their relative contributions to the associated error budget. Since there is no prior knowledge of the stellar mass of galaxies (unlike their photometric redshifts), we use …

Observational Properties Of Simulated Galaxies In Overdense And Average Regions At Redshifts Z ≃ 6–12, Hidenobu Yajima, Isaac Shlosman, Emilio Romano-Díaz, Kentaro Nagamine

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We use high-resolution zoom-in cosmological simulations of galaxies of Romano-Díaz et al., post-processing them with a panchromatic three-dimensional radiation transfer code to obtain the galaxy UV luminosity function (LF) at z ≃ 6–12. The galaxies are followed in a rare, heavily overdense region within a ∼5σ density peak, which can host high-z quasars, and in an average density region, down to the stellar mass of M_star ∼ 4 × 10⁷ M_⊙. We find that the overdense regions evolve at a substantially accelerated pace – the most massive galaxy has grown to M_star ∼ 8.4 …

Stellar Metallicity Gradients In Sdss Galaxies, Benjamin Roig, Michael R. Blanton, Renbin Yan

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We infer stellar metallicity and abundance ratio gradients for a sample of red galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Main galaxy sample. Because this sample does not have multiple spectra at various radii in a single galaxy, we measure these gradients statistically. We separate galaxies into stellar mass bins, stack their spectra in redshift bins, and calculate the measured absorption-line indices in projected annuli by differencing spectra in neighboring redshift bins. After determining the line indices, we use stellar population modeling from the EZ_Ages software to calculate ages, metallicities, and abundance ratios within each annulus. Our data cover …

High Precision Optical Cavity Length And Width Measurements Using Double Modulation, A. Staley, D. Hoak, A. Effler, K. Izumi, S. Dwyer, K. Kawabe, E. J. King, Malik Rakhmanov, R. L. Savage, D. Sigg

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We use doubly phase modulated light to measure both the length and the linewidth of an optical resonator with high precision. The first modulation is at RF frequencies and is set near a multiple of the free spectral range, whereas the second modulation is at audio frequencies to eliminate offset errors at DC. The light in transmission or in reflection of the optical resonator is demodulated while sweeping the RF frequency over the optical resonance. We derive expressions for the demodulated power in transmission, and show that the zero crossings of the demodulated signal in transmission serve as a precise …

Simulating Correlated Disorder In Spin Glass, Jared D. Willard

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

Almost all materials undergo spontaneous symmetry breaking at sufficiently low

temperatures. For most magnetic materials, the spin rotational symmetry is broken

to form magnetic ordering. The discovery of metallic alloys which fail to form

conventional magnetic order has remained a puzzle for the last few decades.

Unfortunately, analytical calculations cannot provide an unbiased answer for the

problem. Furthermore, on the numerical side, Monte Carlo simulations require

extremely long equilibration times. The parallel tempering method has proven a

powerful tool to alleviate the long equilibration time. With the extensive efforts of

numerical simulation research, some of the idealized models have been …

Supermassive Black Hole Formation At High Redshifts Via Direct Collapse In A Cosmological Context, Jun-Hwan Choi, Isaac Shlosman, Mitchell C. Begelman

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We study the early stage of the formation of seed supermassive black holes via direct collapse in dark matter (DM) haloes, in the cosmological context. We perform high-resolution zoom-in simulations of such collapse at high z. Using the adaptive mesh refinement code enzo, we resolve the formation and growth of a DM halo, until its virial temperature reaches ∼10⁴ K, atomic cooling turns on, and collapse ensues. We demonstrate that direct collapse proceeds in two stages, although they are not well separated. The first stage is triggered by the onset of atomic cooling, and leads to rapidly increasing …

Stout: Cloudy's Atomic And Molecular Database, Matt L. Lykins, Gary J. Ferland, R. Kisielius, Marios Chatzikos, R. L. Porter, P. A. M. Van Hoof, R. J. R. Williams, F. P. Keenan, P. C. Stancil

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We describe a new atomic and molecular database we developed for use in the spectral synthesis code Cloudy. The design of Stout is driven by the data needs of Cloudy, which simulates molecular, atomic, and ionized gas with kinetic temperatures 2.8 K < T <10¹⁰ K and densities spanning the low-to high-density limits. The radiation field between photon energies 10⁻⁸ Ry and 100 MeV is considered, along with all atoms and ions of the lightest 30 elements, and ~10² molecules. For ease of maintenance, the data are stored in a format as close as possible to the original data …

Higgs Shifts From Electron–Positron Annihilations Near Neutron Stars, Gary A. Wegner, Roberto Onofrio

Dartmouth Scholarship

We discuss the potential for using neutron stars to determine bounds on the Higgs-Kretschmann coupling by looking at peculiar shifts in gamma-ray spectroscopic features. In particular, we reanalyze multiple lines observed in GRB781119 detected by two gamma-ray spectrometers, and derive an upper bound on the Higgs-Kretschmann coupling that is much more constraining than the one recently obtained from white dwarfs. This calls for targeted analyses of spectra of gamma-ray bursts from more recent observatories, dedicated searches for differential shifts on electron–positron and proton–antiproton annihilation spectra in proximity of compact sources, and signals of electron and proton cyclotron lines from the …

Comparing Theory And Experiment For Analyte Transport In The First Vacuum Stage Of The Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer, Matthew R. Zachreson

Theses and Dissertations

The inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) has been used in laboratories for many years. The majority of the improvements to the instrument have been done empirically through trial and error. A few fluid models have been made, which have given a general description of the flow through the mass spectrometer interface. However, due to long mean free path effects and other factors, it is very difficult to simulate the flow details well enough to predict how changing the interface design will change the formation of the ion beam. Towards this end, Spencer et al. developed FENIX, a direct simulation …

Beam-Energy-Dependent Two-Pion Interferometry And The Freeze-Out Eccentricity Of Pions Measured In Heavy Ion Collisions At The Star Detector, J. Kevin Adkins, Renee Fatemi, Suvarna Ramachandran, G. Webb, L. Adamczyk, G. Agakishiev, M. M. Aggarwal, Z. Ahammed, I. Alekseev, J. Alford, C. D. Anson, A. Aparin

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present results of analyses of two-pion interferometry in Au+Au collisions at √^S_NN=7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, 39, 62.4, and 200 GeV measured in the STAR detector as part of the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider Beam Energy Scan program. The extracted correlation lengths (Hanbury-Brown–Twiss radii) are studied as a function of beam energy, azimuthal angle relative to the reaction plane, centrality, and transverse mass (m_T) of the particles. The azimuthal analysis allows extraction of the eccentricity of the entire fireball at kinetic freeze-out. The energy dependence of this observable is expected to be sensitive …

Double Spin Asymmetries Of Inclusive Hadron Electroproduction From A Transversely Polarized 3He Target, C. Dutta, A. Kolarkar, Wolfgang Korsch, Y. X. Zhao, K. Allada, K. Aniol, J. R. M. Annand, T. Averett, F. Benmokhtar, W. Bertozzi, P. C. Bradshaw, P. Bosted, A. Camsonne

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We report the measurement of beam-target double spin asymmetries (A_LT) in the inclusive production of identified hadrons, e⃗ + ³He^↑→h+X, using a longitudinally polarized 5.9-GeV electron beam and a transversely polarized ³He target. Hadrons (π^±,K^±, and proton) were detected at 16^∘ with an average momentum ⟨P_h⟩=2.35 GeV/c and a transverse momentum (p_T) coverage from 0.60 to 0.68 GeV/c. Asymmetries from the ³He target were observed to be nonzero for π^± production when the target …

Evolution Of Magnetism In Single-Crystal Ca2Ru1−XIrXO4(0≤X≤0.65), Shujuan Yuan, Jsaminka Terzic, J. C. Wang, L. Li, Saicharan Aswartham, W. H. Song, F. Ye, Gang Cao

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We report structural, magnetic, transport, and thermal properties of single-crystal Ca₂Ru_1−xIr_xO₄(0≤x≤0.65). Ca₂RuO₄ is a structurally driven Mott insulator with a metal-insulator transition at T_MI=357K, which is well separated from antiferromagnetic order at T_N=110K. Substitution of a 5_d element, Ir, for Ru enhances spin-orbit coupling and locking between the structural distortions and magnetic moment canting. Ir doping intensifies the distortion or rotation of Ru/IrO₆ octahedra and induces weak ferromagnetic behavior along the c axis. In particular, Ir doping suppresses T_N but …

Moments Of The Neutron G2 Structure Function At Intermediate Q2, Wolfgang Korsch, P. Solvignon, N. Liyanage, J.-P. Chen, Seonho Choi, K. Slifer, K. Aniol, T. Averett, W. Boeglin, A. Camsonne, G. D. Cates

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present new experimental results for the ³He spin structure function g₂ in the resonance region at Q² values between 1.2 and 3.0(GeV/c)². Spin dependent moments of the neutron were extracted. Our main result, the inelastic contribution to the neutron d₂ matrix element, was found to be small at ⟨Q²⟩=2.4(GeV/c)² and in agreement with the lattice QCD calculation. The Burkhardt-Cottingham sum rule for ³He and the neutron was tested with the measured data and using the Wandzura-Wilczek relation for the low x unmeasured region.

Hard Three-Loop Corrections To Hyperfine Splitting In Positronium And Muonium, Michael I. Eides, Valery A. Shelyuto

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We consider hard three-loop corrections to hyperfine splitting in muonium and positronium generated by the diagrams with closed electron loops. There are six gauge-invariant sets of such diagrams that generate corrections of order mα⁷. The contributions of these diagrams are calculated for an arbitrary electron-muon mass ratio without expansion in the small mass ratio. We obtain the formulas for contributions to hyperfine splitting that in the case of a small mass ratio describe corrections for muonium and in the case of equal masses describe corrections for positronium. The first few terms of the expansion of hard corrections in …

A Sensitive Faraday Rotation Setup Using Triple Modulation, G. Phelps, Josh Abney, Mark Broering, Wolfgang Korsch

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

The utilization of polarized targets in scattering experiments has become a common practice in many major accelerator laboratories. Noble gases are especially suitable for such applications, since they can be easily hyper-polarized using spin exchange or metastable pumping techniques. Polarized helium-3 is a very popular target because it often serves as an effective polarized neutron due to its simple nuclear structure. A favorite cell material to generate and store polarized helium-3 is GE-180, a relatively dense aluminosilicate glass. In this paper, we present a Faraday rotation method, using a new triple modulation technique, where the measurement of the Verdet constants …

Observing Strategy For The Sdss-Iv/Manga Ifu Galaxy Survey, David R. Law, Renbin Yan, Matthew A. Bershady, Kevin Bundy, Brian Cherinka, Niv Drory, Nicholas Macdonald, José R. Sánchez-Gallego, David R. Wake, Anne-Marie Weijmans, Michael R. Blanton, Mark A. Klaene, Sean M. Moran, Sebastian F. Sanchez, Kai Zhang

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) is an integral-field spectroscopic survey that is one of three core programs in the fourth-generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV). MaNGA's 17 pluggable optical fiber-bundle integral field units (IFUs) will observe a sample of 10,000 nearby galaxies distributed throughout the SDSS imaging footprint (focusing particularly on the North Galactic Cap). In each pointing these IFUs are deployed across a 3° field; they yield spectral coverage 3600−10300 Å at a typical resolution R ~ 2000, and sample the sky with 2'' diameter fiber apertures with a total bundle fill factor of 56%. Observing …

Smooth And Fast Versus Instantaneous Quenches In Quantum Field Theory, Sumit R. Das, Damián A. Galante, Robert C. Myers

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We examine in detail the relationship between smooth fast quantum quenches, characterized by a time scale δt, and instantaneous quenches, within the framework of exactly solvable mass quenches in free scalar field theory. Our earlier studies [1, 2] highlighted that the two protocols remain distinct in the limit δt → 0 because of the relation of the quench rate to the UV cut-off, i.e., 1/δt ≪ Λ always holds in the fast smooth quenches while 1/δt ∼ Λ for instantaneous quenches. Here we study UV finite quantities like correlators at …

Coexisting Charge And Magnetic Orders In The Dimer-Chain Iridate Ba5Alir2O11, Jsaminka Terzic, J. C. Wang, Feng Ye, W. H. Song, Shujuan Yuan, Saicharan Aswartham, Lance E. De Long, S. V. Streltsov, D. I. Khomskii, Gang Cao

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We have synthesized and studied single-crystal Ba₅AlIr₂O₁₁ that features dimer chains of two inequivalent octahedra occupied by tetravalent Ir⁴⁺(5d⁵) and pentavalent Ir⁵⁺(5d⁴) ions, respectively. Ba₅AlIr₂O₁₁ is a Mott insulator that undergoes a subtle structural phase transition near T_S=210K and a magnetic transition at T_M=4.5K; the latter transition is surprisingly resistant to applied magnetic fields μ_oH≤12T but more sensitive to modest applied pressure (dT_M/dp≈+0.61K/GPa). All results indicate that the …

Observation Of Charge Asymmetry Dependence Of Pion Elliptic Flow And The Possible Chiral Magnetic Wave In Heavy-Ion Collisions, J. Kevin Adkins, Renee Fatemi, Suvarna Ramachandran, L. Adamczyk, G. Agakishiev, M. M. Aggarwal, Z. Ahammed, I. Alekseev, J. Alford, A. Aparin, D. Arkhipkin, E. C. Aschenauer, G. S. Averichev

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present measurements of π⁻ and π⁺ elliptic flow, v₂, at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at √^S_NN=200, 62.4, 39, 27, 19.6, 11.5, and 7.7 GeV, as a function of event-by-event charge asymmetry, A_ch, based on data from the STAR experiment at RHIC. We find that π⁻ (π⁺) elliptic flow linearly increases (decreases) with charge asymmetry for most centrality bins at √^S_NN=27  GeV and higher. At √^S_NN=200  GeV, the slope of the difference of v₂ between π⁻ and π^{+ …}

Double Compact Objects. Iii. Gravitational-Wave Detection Rates, Michal Dominik, Emanuele Berti, Richard O'Shaughnessy, Ilya Mandel, Krzysztof Belczynski, Christopher Fryer, Daniel E. Holz, Tomasz Bulik, Francesco Pannarale

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

The unprecedented range of second-generation gravitational-wave (GW) observatories calls for refining the predictions of potential sources and detection rates. The coalescence of double compact objects (DCOs)—i.e., neutron star–neutron star (NS–NS), black hole–neutron star (BH–NS), and black hole–black hole (BH–BH) binary systems—is the most promising source of GWs for these detectors. We compute detection rates of coalescing DCOs in second-generation GW detectors using the latest models for their cosmological evolution, and implementing inspiral-merger-ringdown gravitational waveform models in our signal-to-noise ratio calculations. We find that (1) the inclusion of the merger/ringdown portion of the signal does not significantly affect rates for NS–NS …