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Register a new userGravitational Waves from Binary Black Hole Mergers Inside of Stars
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J. M. Fedrow
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We present results from a controlled numerical experiment investigating the effect of stellar density gas on the coalescence of binary black holes (BBHs) and the resulting gravitational waves (GWs). This investigation is motivated by the proposed stellar core fragmentation scenario for BBH formation and the associated possibility of an electromagnetic counterpart to a BBH GW event. We employ full numerical relativity coupled with general-relativistic hydrodynamics and set up a $30 + 30 M_odot$ BBH (motivated by GW150914) inside gas with realistic stellar densities. Our results show that at densities $rho gtrsim 10^6 - 10^7 , mathrm{g , cm}^{-3}$ dynamical friction between the BHs and gas changes the coalescence dynamics and the GW signal in an unmistakable way. We show that for GW150914, LIGO observations conclusively rule out BBH coalescence inside stellar gas of $rho gtrsim 10^7 , mathrm{g,cm}^{-3}$. Typical densities in the collapsing cores of massive stars are in excess of this density. This excludes the fragmentation scenario for the formation of GW150914.
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In dense stellar environments, the merger products of binary black hole mergers may undergo additional mergers. These hierarchical mergers are predicted to have higher masses than the first generation of black holes made from stars. The components of hierarchical mergers are expected to have significant characteristic spins $chisim 0.7$. However, since the population properties of first-generation black holes are uncertain, it is difficult to know if any given merger is first-generation or hierarchical. We use observations of gravitational waves to reconstruct the binary black hole mass and spin spectrum of a population containing hierarchical merger events. We employ a phenomenological model that captures the properties of merging binary black holes from simulations of dense stellar environments. Inspired by recent work on the isolated formation of low-spin black holes, we include a zero-spin subpopulation. We analyze binary black holes from LIGO and Virgos first two observing runs, and find that this catalog is consistent with having no hierarchical mergers. We find that the most massive system in this catalog, GW170729, is mostly likely a first-generation merger, having a $4%$ probability of being a hierarchical merger assuming a $5 times 10^5 M_{odot}$ globular cluster mass. Using our model, we find that $99%$ of first-generation black holes in coalescing binaries have masses below 44 $M_{odot}$, and the fraction of binaries with near-zero spin is $0.051^{+0.156}_{-0.048}$ ($90%$ credible interval). Upcoming observations will determine if hierarchical mergers are a common source of gravitational waves.
Some astrophysical sources of gravitational waves can produce a memory effect, which causes a permanent displacement of the test masses in a freely falling gravitational-wave detector. The Christodoulou memory is a particularly interesting nonlinear form of memory that arises from the gravitational-wave stress-energy tensors contribution to the distant gravitational-wave field. This nonlinear memory contributes a nonoscillatory component to the gravitational-wave signal at leading (Newtonian-quadrupole) order in the waveform amplitude. Previous computations of the memory and its detectability considered only the inspiral phase of binary black hole coalescence. Using an effective-one-body (EOB) approach calibrated to numerical relativity simulations, as well as a simple fully analytic model, the Christodoulou memory is computed for the inspiral, merger, and ringdown. The memory will be very difficult to detect with ground-based interferometers, but is likely to be observable in supermassive black hole mergers with LISA out to a redshift of two. Detection of the nonlinear memory could serve as an experimental test of the ability of gravity to gravitate.
We apply machine learning methods to build a time-domain model for gravitational waveforms from binary black hole mergers, called mlgw. The dimensionality of the problem is handled by representing the waveforms amplitude and phase using a principal component analysis. We train mlgw on about $mathcal{O}(10^3)$ TEOBResumS and SEOBNRv4 effective-one-body waveforms with mass ratios $qin[1,20]$ and aligned dimensionless spins $sin[-0.80,0.95]$. The resulting models are faithful to the training sets at the ${sim}10^{-3}$ level (averaged on the parameter space). The speed up for a single waveform generation is a factor 10 to 50 (depending on the binary mass and initial frequency) for TEOBResumS and approximately an order of magnitude more for SEOBNRv4. Furthermore, mlgw provides a closed form expression for the waveform and its gradient with respect to the orbital parameters; such an information might be useful for future improvements in GW data analysis. As demonstration of the capabilities of mlgw to perform a full parameter estimation, we re-analyze the public data from the first GW transient catalog (GWTC-1). We find broadly consistent results with previous analyses at a fraction of the cost, although the analysis with spin aligned waveforms gives systematic larger values of the effective spins with respect to previous analyses with precessing waveforms. Since the generation time does not depend on the length of the signal, our model is particularly suitable for the analysis of the long signals that are expected to be detected by third-generation detectors. Future applications include the analysis of waveform systematics and model selection in parameter estimation.
The transformation of powerful gravitational waves, created by the coalescence of massive black hole binaries, into electromagnetic radiation in external magnetic fields is revisited. In contrast to the previous calculations of the similar effect, we study the realistic case of the gravitational radiation frequency below the plasma frequency of the surrounding medium. The gravitational waves propagating in the plasma constantly create electromagnetic radiation dragging it with them, despite the low frequency. The plasma heating by the unattenuated electromagnetic wave may be significant in a hot rarefied plasma with strong magnetic field and can lead to a noticeable burst of electromagnetic radiation with higher frequency. The graviton-to-photon conversion effect in plasma is discussed in the context of possible electromagnetic counterparts of GW150914 and GW170104.
Neutron star binary mergers are strong sources of gravitational waves (GWs). Promising electromagnetic counterparts are short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) but the emission is highly collimated. We propose that the scattering of the long-lasting plateau emission in short GRBs by the merger ejecta produces nearly isotropic emission for $sim 10^4$ s with flux $10^{-13}-10^{-10}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ at 100 Mpc in X-ray. This is detectable by Swift XRT and wide field X-ray detectors such as ISS-Lobster, Einstein Probe, eROSITA and WF-MAXI, which are desired by the infrared and optical follow-ups to localize and measure the distance to the host galaxy. The scattered X-rays obtain linear polarization, which correlates with the jet direction, X-ray luminosity and GW polarizations. The activity of plateau emission is also a natural energy source of a macronova (or kilonova) detected in short GRB 130603B without the $r$-process radioactivity.
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