Search

Double white dwarf (WD) merger process and their post-merger evolution are important in many fields of astronomy, such as supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, gravitational waves, and so on. The evolutionary outcomes of double ultra-massive WD merger remnants are still a subject of debate, though the general consensus is that the merger remnant will collapse to form a neutron star (NS). In this work, we investigate the evolution of a |$2.20\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$| merger remnant stemmed from the coalescence of double |$1.10\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$| ONe WDs. We find that the remnant ignites off-centre neon burning at the position near the surface of primary WD soon after the merger, resulting in the stable inwardly propagating oxygen/neon (O/Ne) flame. The final outcomes of the merger remnant are sensitive to the effect of convective boundary mixing. If the mixing cannot stall the O/Ne flame, the flame will reach the centre within 20 yr, leading to the formation of super Chandrasekhar mass silicon core, and its final fate probably be NS through iron-core-collapse supernova. In contrast, if the convective mixing is effective enough to prevent the O/Ne flame from reaching the centre, the merger remnant will undergo electron capture supernova to form an ONeFe WD. Meanwhile, we find that the wind mass loss process may hardly alter the final fate of the remnant due to its fast evolution. Our results imply that the coalescence of double ONe WDs can form short lived giant like object, but the final outcomes (NS or ONeFe WD) are influenced by the uncertain convective mixing in O/Ne flame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gravitational waves (GW) from eccentric binaries have intricate signals encoding important features about the location, creation and evolution of the sources. Eccentricity shortens the merger time, making the emitted GW statistically predominant in the observed data once detectors will reach the required sensitivity. We present a novel implementation of fully analytical GW templates from eccentric binary black hole (BBH) mergers within the Wolfram Mathematica software. We increase the accuracy by identifying and minimizing the possible source of errors. We start with an overview of the physics involved in eccentric mergers, then assemble the strain for the inspiral by employing up to six post-Newtonian (PN) corrections. We complete the eccentric inspiral with the quasi-circular Backwards one Body (BOB) merger model in frequency, amplitude and phase, then we build the hybrid GW strain for the whole evolution of the binary. For low eccentricity, we reach coincidence in the overlap, with no ambiguity in the time interval, a remarkable improvement from the usual matching techniques. For high-eccentricity, we compensate for the implicit quasi-circular assumption of the BOB approach, by introducing a small rescaling in amplitude. Our streamlined implementation is relevant for the new field of GW astronomy and is straightforward to understand, use and extend, offering researchers in the field a valuable open resource tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symmetric trace-free tensors are used in many areas of physics, including electromagnetism, relativistic celestial mechanics and geodesy, as well as in the study of gravitational radiation and gravitational lensing. Their use allows integration of the relevant wave propagation equations to arbitrary order. We present an improved iterative method for the trace-free decomposition of symmetric tensors of arbitrary rank. The method can be used both in coordinate-free symbolic derivations using a computer algebra system and in numerical modeling. We obtain a closed-form representation of the trace-free decomposition in arbitrary dimensions. To demonstrate the results, we compute the coordinate combinations representing the symmetric trace-free (STF) mass multipole moments for rank 5 through 8, not readily available in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of gravitational-wave astronomy has been opened up by gravitational-wave observations made with interferometric detectors. This review surveys the current state-of-the-art in gravitational-wave detectors and data analysis methods currently used by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory in the United States and the Virgo Observatory in Italy. These analysis methods will also be used in the recently completed KAGRA Observatory in Japan. Data analysis algorithms are developed to target one of four classes of gravitational waves. Short duration, transient sources include compact binary coalescences, and burst sources originating from poorly modeled or unanticipated sources. Long duration sources include sources which emit continuous signals of consistent frequency, and many unresolved sources forming a stochastic background. A description of potential sources and the search for gravitational waves from each of these classes are detailed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation and evolution of binary stars are critical components of several fields in astronomy. The most numerous sources for gravitational wave observatories are inspiraling or merging compact binaries, while binary stars are present in nearly every electromagnetic survey regardless of the target population. Simulations of large binary populations serve to both predict and inform observations of electromagnetic and gravitational wave sources. Binary population synthesis is a tool that balances physical modeling with simulation speed to produce large binary populations on timescales of days. We present a community-developed binary population synthesis suite, COSMIC, which is designed to simulate compact-object binary populations and their progenitors. As a proof of concept, we simulate the Galactic population of compact binaries and their gravitational wave signals observable by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The joint detection of gravitational wave (GW) and electromagnetic radiation from the binary neutron star merger event GW170817 marks a breakthrough in the field of multi-messenger astronomy. The short gamma-ray burst (sGRB) GRB 170817A, associated with this binary neutron star merger event, has an isotropic-equivalent gamma-ray radiation luminosity of 1.6 × 1047 erg s−1, which is much lower than that of other sGRBs. The measurement of the superluminal movement of the radio afterglow emission confirms the presence of the relativistic jet, and the emission features can be well explained by the structured jet model. In this paper, we calculate the luminosity distribution of sGRBs and its evolution with redshift based on the structured (Gaussian) jet model, and find that the typical luminosity increase with redshift, for nearby sGRBs (such as for luminosity distance less than 200 Mpc) the typical gamma-ray luminosity is just around 1047–1048 erg s−1, which naturally explains the very low radiation luminosity of GRB 170817A. We derived the detection probability of sGRBs by Fermi-GBM and found that the expected detection rate of sGRBs is only about 1 yr−1 within the distance of several hundred Mpc. We explored the effect of the power-law index α of the merger time distribution on the observed characteristics and found that it had little effect on the observed luminosity and viewing-angle distributions. However, it is very interesting that, for different values of α, the distributions of the number of observed sGRBs are quite different, so it is possible to determine the value of α through observed distributions of the number of sGRBs. We used the Bayesian method to make a quantitative analysis and found that the value of α may be identified when the number of observed sGRBs with known redshifts is more than 200. Finally, we compare our results of gamma-ray luminosity distribution with sGRBs with known redshifts, and found that our results are consistent with the observation, which implies that our simulation results can reproduce the observed luminosity distribution well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The GW170817 event opened a new window to test modifications to General Relativity with the aim of discard or impose strong constraints in extra dimension theories of gravity. Concerning these theories, the Randall–Sundrum brane-world theory – 4+1 spacetime model where its covariant Einstein field equations are composed with new extra terms that comes from extra dimensions – is begin tested in the multi-messenger astronomy field. In the same context, the aim of this paper is to impose new constrictions through measurements of the time-delay between the gravitational and electromagnetic signals: GW170817 and the recent S190425z, over the free cosmological parameters of this modified model. We assume that Gravitational Waves travel along a shortcut on the extra dimension. In addition, we consider the standard Λ CDM model and perform a likelihood analysis in order to study effects like the H 0 tension in comparison to this extra-dimensional theory, obtaining a reduced H 0 value of the order of 0.2 % in the low energy limit of this theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measurement of ultra-high energy (UHE) neutrinos (E > 1016 eV) opens a new field of astronomy with the potential to reveal the sources of ultra-high energy cosmic rays especially if combined with observations in the electromagnetic spectrum and gravitational waves. The ARIANNA pilot detector explores the detection of UHE neutrinos with a surface array of independent radio detector stations in Antarctica which allows for a cost-effective instrumentation of large volumes. Twelve stations are currently operating successfully at the Moore's Bay site (Ross Ice Shelf) in Antarctica and at the South Pole. We will review the current state of ARIANNA and its main results. We report on a newly developed wind generator that successfully operates in the harsh Antarctic conditions and powers the station for a substantial time during the dark winter months. The robust ARIANNA surface architecture, combined with environmentally friendly solar and wind power generators, can be installed at any deep ice location on the planet and operated autonomously. We report on the detector capabilities to determine the neutrino direction by reconstructing the signal arrival direction of a 800 m deep calibration pulser, and the reconstruction of the signal polarization using the more abundant cosmic-ray air showers. Finally, we describe a large-scale design – ARIA – that capitalizes on the successful experience of the ARIANNA operation and is designed sensitive enough to discover the first UHE neutrino. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combined detection of a gravitational-wave signal, kilonova, and short gamma-ray burst (sGRB) from GW170817 marked a scientific breakthrough in the field of multimessenger astronomy. But even before GW170817, there have been a number of sGRBs with possible associated kilonova detections. In this work, we re-examine these 'historical' sGRB afterglows with a combination of state-of-the-art afterglow and kilonova models. This allows us to include optical/near-infrared synchrotron emission produced by the sGRB as well as ultraviolet/optical/near-infrared emission powered by the radioactive decay of r -process elements (i.e. the kilonova). Fitting the light curves, we derive the velocity and the mass distribution as well as the composition of the ejected material. The posteriors on kilonova parameters obtained from the fit were turned into distributions for the peak magnitude of the kilonova emission in different bands and the time at which this peak occurs. From the sGRB with an associated kilonova, we found that the peak magnitude in H bands falls in the range [−16.2, −13.1] (⁠|$95{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| of confidence) and occurs within |$0.8\!-\!3.6\, \rm d$| after the sGRB prompt emission. In g band instead we obtain a peak magnitude in range [−16.8, −12.3] occurring within the first 18 h after the sGRB prompt. From the luminosity distributions of GW170817/AT2017gfo, kilonova candidates GRB130603B, GRB050709, and GRB060614 (with the possible inclusion of GRB150101B, GRB050724A, GRB061201, GRB080905A, GRB150424A, and GRB160821B) and the upper limits from all the other sGRBs not associated with any kilonova detection we obtain for the first time a kilonova luminosity distribution in different bands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mike Cruise surveys the development of this new field of astronomy in his 2019 Presidential Address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work we investigate the consequences of running gravitational coupling on the properties of rotating black holes. Apart from the changes induced in the space-time structure of such black holes, we also study the implications to Penrose process and geodetic precession. We are motivated by the functional form of gravitational coupling previously investigated in the context of infra-red limit of asymptotic safe gravity theory. In this approach, the involvement of a new parameter ξ~ in this solution makes it different from Schwarzschild black hole. The Killing horizon, event horizon and singularity of the computed metric is then discussed. It is noticed that the ergosphere is increased as ξ~ increases. Considering the black hole solution in equatorial plane, the geodesics of particles, both null and time like cases, are explored. The effective potential is computed and graphically analyzed for different values of parameter ξ~. The energy extraction from black hole is investigated via Penrose process. For the same values of spin parameter, the numerical results suggest that the efficiency of Penrose process is greater in quantum corrected gravity than in Kerr Black Hole. At the end, a brief discussion on Lense-Thirring frequency is also done. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports that Gravity Probe B, launched into space, has measured the geodetic effect, the warping of spacetime in the vicinity of and caused by Earth, with a precision of 1%. The tiny effect was observed via the precession of gyroscopes onboard the craft, which is in a polar orbit around Earth. The observed precession rate is consistent with the prediction of general relativity and with the only other measurement of the effect, which used the Earth-Moon system orbiting the Sun.