Gravitational waves emitted during the inspiral, plunge and merger of a black hole binary carry linear momentum. This results in an astrophysically important recoil to the final merged black hole, a ``kick that can eject it from the nucleus of a galaxy. In a previous paper we showed that the puzzling partial cancellation of an early kick by a late antikick, and the dependence of the cancellation on black hole spin, can be understood from the phenomenology of the linear momentum waveforms. Here we connect that phenomenology to its underlying cause, the spin-dependence of the inspiral trajectories. This insight suggests that the details of plunge can be understood more broadly with a focus on inspiral trajectories.
Outside a black hole, perturbation fields die off in time as $1/t^n$. For spherical holes $n=2ell+3$ where $ell$ is the multipole index. In the nonspherical Kerr spacetime there is no coordinate-independent meaning of multipole, and a common sense viewpoint is to set $ell$ to the lowest radiatiable index, although theoretical studies have led to very different claims. Numerical results, to date, have been controversial. Here we show that expansion for small Kerr spin parameter $a$ leads to very definite numerical results confirming previous theoretical analyses.
We compare the nature of electromagnetic fields and of gravitational fields in linearized general relativity. We carry out this comparison both mathematically and visually. In particular the lines of force visualizations of electromagnetism are contrasted with the recently introduced tendex/vortex eigenline technique for visualizing gravitational fields. Specific solutions, visualizations, and comparisons are given for an oscillating point quadrupole source. Among the similarities illustrated are the quasistatic nature of the near fields, the transverse 1/r nature of the far fields, and the interesting intermediate field structures connecting these two limiting forms. Among the differences illustrated are the meaning of field line motion, and of the flow of energy.
We describe a multidomain spectral-tau method for solving the three-dimensional helically reduced wave equation on the type of two-center domain that arises when modeling compact binary objects in astrophysical applications. A global two-center domain may arise as the union of Cartesian blocks, cylindrical shells, and inner and outer spherical shells. For each such subdomain, our key objective is to realize certain (differential and multiplication) physical-space operators as matrices acting on the corresponding set of modal coefficients. We achieve sparse banded realizations through the integration preconditioning of Coutsias, Hagstrom, Hesthaven, and Torres. Since ours is the first three-dimensional multidomain implementation of the technique, we focus on the issue of convergence for the global solver, here the alternating Schwarz method accelerated by GMRES. Our methods may prove relevant for numerical solution of other mixed-type or elliptic problems, and in particular for the generation of initial data in general relativity.
During the inspiral and merger of black holes, the interaction of gravitational wave multipoles carries linear momentum away, thereby providing an astrophysically important recoil, or kick to the system and to the final black hole remnant. It has been found that linear momentum during the last stage (quasinormal ringing) of the collapse tends to provide an antikick that in some cases cancels almost all the kick from the earlier (quasicircular inspiral) emission. We show here that this cancellation is not due to peculiarities of gravitational waves, black holes, or interacting multipoles, but simply to the fact that the rotating flux of momentum changes its intensity slowly. We show furthermore that an understanding of the systematics of the emission allows good estimates of the net kick for numerical simulations started at fairly late times, and is useful for understanding qualitatively what kinds of systems provide large and small net kicks.
According to some models, there may be a significant population of radio pulsars in the Galactic center. In principle, a beam from one of these pulsars could pass close to the supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the center, be deflected, and be detected by Earth telescopes. Such a configuration would be an unprecedented probe of the properties of spacetime in the moderate- to strong-field regime of the SMBH. We present here background on the problem, and approximations for the probability of detection of such beams. We conclude that detection is marginally probable with current telescopes, but that telescopes that will be operating in the near future, with an appropriate multiyear observational program, will have a good chance of detecting a beam deflected by the SMBH.
Massive gravitons are features of some alternatives to general relativity. This has motivated experiments and observations that, so far, have been consistent with the zero mass graviton of general relativity, but further tests will be valuable. A basis for new tests may be the high sensitivity gravitational wave experiments that are now being performed, and the higher sensitivity experiments that are being planned. In these experiments it should be feasible to detect low levels of dispersion due to nonzero graviton mass. One of the most promising techniques for such a detection may be the pulsar timing program that is sensitive to nano-Hertz gravitational waves. Here we present some details of such a detection scheme. The pulsar timing response to a gravitational wave background with the massive graviton is calculated, and the algorithm to detect the massive graviton is presented. We conclude that, with 90% probability, massles gravitons can be distinguished from gravitons heavier than $3times 10^{-22}$ eV (Compton wave length $lambda_{rm g}=4.1 times 10^{12}$ km), if biweekly observation of 60 pulsars are performed for 5 years with pulsar RMS timing accuracy of 100 ns. If 60 pulsars are observed for 10 years with the same accuracy, the detectable graviton mass is reduced to $5times 10^{-23}$ eV ($lambda_{rm g}=2.5 times 10^{13}$ km); for 5-year observations of 100 or 300 pulsars, the sensitivity is respectively $2.5times 10^{-22}$ ($lambda_{rm g}=5.0times 10^{12}$ km) and $10^{-22}$ eV ($lambda_{rm g}=1.2times 10^{13}$ km). Finally, a 10-year observation of 300 pulsars with 100 ns timing accuracy would probe graviton masses down to $3times 10^{-23}$ eV ($lambda_{rm g}=4.1times 10^{13}$ km).
