Search

Compact binaries on eccentric orbits are another class of gravitational-wave (GW) sources that can provide a wealth of information on binary formation pathways and astrophysical environments. However, historically, eccentricity is often neglected in modelled GW searches for compact binaries. We show that currently used modelled searches that employ quasi-circular template banks are highly ineffectual in detecting binary neutron star (BNS) and neutron star--black hole (NSBH) systems with orbital eccentricities in the range of $[10^{-5},0.15]$ at a GW frequency of $15$Hz. For populations of moderately eccentric BNS and NSBH binaries with (anti-)aligned component spins, we demonstrate that quasi-circular template banks fail to detect up to $\sim 40\%$ of such systems. To alleviate these inefficiencies, we develop the first \emph{geometric} template bank for the search of BNSs and NSBH binaries that includes masses, (anti-)aligned spins and moderate eccentricity. Utilising the post-Newtonian inspiral waveform {\tt TaylorF2Ecc} and a global coordinate transformation, we construct a globally flat metric to efficiently place eccentric templates. Our geometric template bank is highly effectual, and significantly improves the recovery of eccentric signals with less than $6\%$ of signals missed due to the finite template spacing in the bank., Comment: Added a new figure

Recent developments in post-Minkowksian (PM) calculations have led to a fast-growing body of weak-field perturbative information. As such, there is major interest within the gravitational wave community as to how this information can be used to improve the accuracy of theoretical waveform models. In this work, we build on recent efforts to validate high-order PM calculations using numerical relativity simulations. We present a new set of high-energy scattering simulations for equal-mass, non-spinning binary black holes, further expanding the existing suite of NR simulations. We outline the basic features of three recently proposed resummation schemes (the $\mathscr{L}$-resummed model, the $w^\mathrm{eob}$ model and the SEOB-PM model) and compare the analytical predictions to our NR data. Each model is shown to demonstrate pathological behaviour at high energies, with common features such as PM hierarchical shifts and divergences. The NR data can also be used to calibrate pseudo-5PM corrections to the scattering angle or EOB radial potentials. In each case, we argue that including higher-order information improves the agreement between the analytical models and NR, though the extent of improvement depends on how this information is incorporated and the choice of analytical baseline. Finally, we demonstrate that further resummation of the EOB radial potentials could be an effective strategy to improving the model agreement., Comment: 30 pages, 19 figures, 8 tables

Gravitational waves from inspiralling binary neutron stars provide unique access to ultra-dense nuclear matter and offer the ability to constrain the currently unknown neutron star equation-of-state through tidal measurements. This, however, requires the availability of accurate and efficient tidal waveform models. In this paper we present PhenomGSF, a new phenomenological tidal phase model for the inspiral of neutron stars in the frequency-domain, which captures the gravitational self-force informed tidal contributions of the time-domain effective-one-body model TEOBResumS. PhenomGSF is highly faithful and computationally efficient, and by choosing a modular approach, it can be used in conjunction with any frequency-domain binary black hole waveform model to generate the complete phase for a binary neutron star inspiral. PhenomGSF is valid for neutron star binaries with unequal masses and mass ratios between 1 and 3, and dimensionless tidal deformabilities up to 5000. Furthermore, PhenomGSF does not assume universal relations or parameterised equations-of-state, hence allowing for exotic matter analyses and beyond standard model physics investigations. We demonstrate the efficacy and accuracy of our model through comparisons against TEOBResumS, numerical relativity waveforms and full Bayesian inference, including a reanalysis of the binary neutron star observation GW170817., Comment: 26 pages, 14 figures

Orbital eccentricity in compact binaries is considered to be a key tracer of their astrophysical origin, and can be inferred from gravitational-wave observations due to its imprint on the emitted signal. For a robust measurement, accurate waveform models are needed. However, ambiguities in the definition of eccentricity can obfuscate the physical meaning and result in seemingly discrepant measurements. In this work we present a suite of 28 new numerical relativity simulations of eccentric, aligned-spin binary black holes with mass ratios between 1 and 6 and initial post-Newtonian eccentricities between 0.05 and 0.3. We then develop a robust pipeline for measuring the eccentricity evolution as a function of frequency from gravitational-wave observables that is applicable even to signals that span at least $\gtrsim 7$ orbits. We assess the reliability of our procedure and quantify its robustness under different assumptions on the data. Using the eccentricity measured at the first apastron, we initialise effective-one-body waveforms and quantify how the precision in the eccentricity measurement, and therefore the choice of the initial conditions, impacts the agreement with the numerical data. We find that even small deviations in the initial eccentricity can lead to non-negligible differences in the phase and amplitude of the waveforms. However, we demonstrate that we can reliably map the eccentricities between the simulation data and analytic models, which is crucial for robustly building eccentric hybrid waveforms, and to improve the accuracy of eccentric waveform models in the strong-field regime., Comment: 25 pages, 15 figures, matches published version

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will play a vital role in constraining the origin and evolution of massive black holes throughout the Universe. In this study we use a waveform model (IMRPhenomXPHM) that includes both precession and higher multipoles, and full Bayesian inference to explore the accuracy to which LISA can constrain the binary parameters. We demonstrate that LISA will be able to track the evolution of the spins -- magnitude and orientation -- to percent accuracy, providing crucial information on the dynamics and evolution of massive black hole binaries and the galactic environment in which the merger takes place. Such accurate spin-tracking further allows LISA to measure the recoil velocity of the remnant black hole to better than $100\,\mathrm{km}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}$ (90\% credibility) and its direction to a few degrees, which provides additional important astrophysical information on the post-merger association. Using a systematic suite of binaries, we showcase that the component masses will be measurable at the sub-percent level, the sky area can be constrained to within $\Delta \Omega_{90} \approx 0.01 \, \rm{deg}^2$, and the binary redshift to less than $0.01$., Comment: 14+6 pages, 8 figures, fixed typo

Highly accurate models of the gravitational-wave signal from coalescing compact binaries are built by completing analytical computations of the binary dynamics with non-perturbative information from numerical relativity (NR) simulations. In this paper we present four sets of NR simulations of equal-mass black hole binaries that undergo strong-field scattering: (i) we reproduce and extend the nonspinning simulations first presented in [Damour \textit{et al.}, Phys.Rev.D 89 (2014) 8, 081503], (ii) we compute two suites of nonspinning simulations at higher energies, probing stronger field interactions, (iii) we present a series of \textit{spinning} simulations including, for the first time, unequal-spin configurations. When comparing the NR scattering angles to analytical predictions based on state-of-the-art post-Minkowskian (PM) calculations, we find that PM-expanded scattering angles show poor convergence towards NR data. By contrast, a resummed computation of scattering angles via a spin-dependent, radiation-reacted, effective-one-body potential shows excellent agreement for both nonspinning and spinning configurations., Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures, 6 tables, 1 ancillary file

Advanced gravitational-wave detectors that have made groundbreaking discoveries are Michelson interferometers with resonating optical cavities as their arms. As light travels at finite speed, these cavities are optimal for enhancing signals at frequencies below their bandwidth frequency. A small amount of optical loss will, however, significantly impact the high-frequency signals which are not optimally amplified. We find an elegant interferometer configuration with an "L-resonator" as the core, significantly surpassing the loss limited sensitivity of dual recycled Fabry Perot Michelson interferometers at high frequencies. Following this concept, we provide a broadband design of a 25 km detector with outstanding sensitivity between 2-4 kHz. We have performed Monte-Carlo population studies of binary neutron star mergers, given the most recent merger rate from the GWTC-3 catalog and several representative neutron star equations of state. We find that the new interferometer configuration significantly outperforms other third-generation detectors by a factor of 3 to 7 in the signal-to-noise ratio of the post-merger signal. Assuming a detection threshold with signal-to-noise ratio >5 and for the cases we have explored, the new design is the only detector that confidently achieves a detection rate larger than one per year, with the rate being 1 to 30 events per year., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures

The observation of massive black hole binary systems is one of the main science objectives of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). The instrument's design requirements have recently been revised: they set a requirement at $0.1\,\mathrm{mHz}$, with no additional explicit requirements at lower frequencies. This has implications for observations of the short-lived signals produced by the coalescence of massive and high-redshift binaries. Here we consider the most pessimistic scenario: the (unlikely) case in which LISA has no sensitivity below $0.1\,\mathrm{mHz}$. We show that the presence of higher multipoles (beyond the dominant $\ell = |m| = 2$ mode) in the gravitational radiation from these systems, which will be detectable with a total signal-to-noise ratio $\sim 10^3$, allows LISA to retain the capability to accurately measure the physical parameters, the redshift, and to constrain the sky location. To illustrate this point, we consider a few select binaries in a total (redshifted) mass range of $4 \times10^6 - 4 \times 10^7\,M_\odot$ whose ($\ell = |m| = 2$) gravitational-wave signals last between $\approx 12$ hours and $\approx 20$ days in band. We model the emitted gravitational radiation using the highly accurate (spin-aligned) waveform approximant IMRPhenomXHM and carry out a fully coherent Bayesian analysis on the LISA noise-orthogonal time-delay-interferometry channels., Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, comments welcome!

The origin and formation of stellar-mass binary black holes remains an open question that can be addressed by precise measurements of the binary and orbital parameters from their gravitational-wave signal. Such binaries are expected to circularize due to the emission of gravitational waves as they approach merger. However, depending on their formation channel, some binaries could have a non-negligible eccentricity when entering the frequency band of current gravitational-wave detectors. In order to measure eccentricity in an observed gravitational-wave signal, accurate waveform models that describe binaries in eccentric orbits are necessary. In this work we demonstrate the efficacy of the improved TEOBResumS waveform model for eccentric coalescing binaries with aligned spins. We first validate the model against mock signals of aligned-spin binary black hole mergers and quantify the impact of eccentricity on the estimation of other intrinsic binary parameters. We then perform a fully Bayesian reanalysis of GW150914 with the eccentric waveform model. We find (i) that the model is reliable for aligned-spin binary black holes and (ii) that GW150914 is consistent with a non-eccentric merger although we cannot rule out small values of initial eccentricity at a reference frequency of $20$ Hz. Finally, we present a systematic method to measure the eccentricity and its evolution directly from the gravitational-wave posterior samples. Such an estimator is useful when comparing results from different analyses as the definition of eccentricity may differ between models. Our scheme can be applied even in the case of small eccentricities and can be adopted straightforwardly in post-processing to allow for direct comparison between models., Comment: 20 pages, 13 figures, version accepted by PRD

Since the first detection in 2015 of gravitational waves from compact binary coalescence, improvements to the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors have expanded our view into the universe for these signals. Searches of the of the latest observing run (O3) have increased the number of detected signals to 90, at a rate of approximately 1 per week. Future observing runs are expected to increase this even further. Bayesian analysis of the signals can reveal the properties of the coalescing black holes and neutron stars by comparing predicted waveforms to the observed data. The proliferating number of detected signals, the increasing number of methods that have been deployed, and the variety of waveform models create an ever-expanding number of analyses that can be considered. Asimov is a python package which is designed to simplify and standardise the process of configuring these analyses for a large number of events. It has already been used in developing analyses in three major gravitational wave catalog publications., Comment: Submitted to Journal of Open Source Software

Spin precession in merging black-hole binaries is a treasure trove for both astrophysics and fundamental physics. There are now well-established strategies to infer from gravitational-wave data whether at least one of the two black holes is precessing. In this paper we tackle the next-in-line target, namely the statistical assessment that the observed system has two precessing spins. We find that the recently developed generalization of the effective precession spin parameter $\chi_\mathrm{p}$ is a well-suited estimator to this task. With this estimator, the occurrence of two precessing spins is a necessary (though not sufficient) condition to obtain values $1<\chi_\mathrm{p}\leq 2$. Confident measurements of gravitational-wave sources with $\chi_\mathrm{p}$ values in this range can be taken as a conservative assessment that the binary presents two precessing spins. We investigate this argument using a large set of >100 software injections assuming anticipated LIGO/Virgo sensitivities for the upcoming fourth observing run, O4. Our results are very encouraging, suggesting that, if such binaries exist in nature and merge at a sufficient rate, current interferometers are likely to deliver the first confident detection of merging black holes with two precessing spins. We investigate prior effects and waveform systematics and, though these need to be better investigated, did not find any confident false-positive case among all the configurations we tested. Our assessment should thus be taken as conservative., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 1 table

Gravitational waves from the coalescences of black hole and neutron stars afford us the unique opportunity to determine the sources' properties, such as their masses and spins, with unprecedented accuracy. To do so, however, theoretical models of the emitted signal that are i) extremely accurate and ii) computationally highly efficient are necessary. The inclusion of more detailed physics such as higher-order multipoles and relativistic spin-induced orbital precession increases the complexity and hence also computational cost of waveform models, which presents a severe bottleneck to the parameter inference problem. A popular method to generate waveforms more efficiently is to build a fast surrogate model of a slower one. In this paper, we show that traditional surrogate modelling methods combined with artificial neural networks can be used to build a computationally highly efficient while still accurate emulation of multipolar time-domain waveform models of precessing binary black holes. We apply this method to the state-of-the-art waveform model SEOBNRv4PHM and find significant computational improvements: On a traditional CPU, the typical generation of a single waveform using our neural network surrogate SEOBNN_v4PHM_4dq2 takes 18ms for a binary black hole with a total mass of $44 M_{\odot}$ when generated from 20Hz. In comparison to SEOBNRv4PHM itself, this amounts to an improvement in computational efficiency by two orders of magnitude. Utilising additional GPU acceleration, we find that this speed-up can be increased further with the generation of batches of waveforms simultaneously. Even without additional GPU acceleration, this dramatic decrease in waveform generation cost can reduce the inference timescale from weeks to hours., Comment: Matches published version in PRD. 19 pages (including appendix and bibliography), 14 figures

Understanding the formation and evolution of the stellar-mass binary black holes discovered by LIGO and Virgo is a challenge that spans many areas of astrophysics, from stellar evolution, dynamics and accretion disks, to possible exotic early universe processes. Over the final years of their lives, stellar-mass binaries radiate gravitational waves that are first observable by space-based detectors (such as LISA) and then ground-based instruments (such as LIGO, Virgo and the next generation observatories Cosmic Explorer and the Einstein Telescope). Using state-of-the-art waveform models and parameter-estimation pipelines for both ground- and space-based observations, we show that (the expected handful of) these multiband observations will allow at least percent-level measurements of all 17 parameters that describe the binary, the possible identification of a likely host galaxy, and the forewarning of the merger days in advance allowing telescopes at multiple wavelengths to search for any electromagnetic signature associated to it. Multiband sources will therefore be a gold mine for astrophysics, but we also show that they could be less useful as laboratories for fundamental tests of general relativity than has been previously suggested., Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures (including supplementary material)

Tidal effects in gravitational-wave (GW) observations from binary neutron star mergers have the potential to probe ultra-dense matter and shed light on the unknown nuclear equation of state of neutron stars. Tidal effects in inspiralling neutron star binaries become relevant at GW frequencies of a few hundred Hz and require detectors with exquisite high-frequency sensitivity. Third generation GW detectors such as the Einstein Telescope or Cosmic Explorer will be particularly sensitive in this high-frequency regime, allowing us to probe neutron star tides beyond the adiabatic approximation. Here we assess whether dynamical tides can be measured from a neutron star inspiral. We find that the measurability of dynamical tides depends strongly on the neutron star mass and equation of state. For a semi-realistic population of 10,000 inspiralling binary neutron stars, we conservatively estimate that on average $\mathcal{O}(50)$ binaries will have measurable dynamical tides. As dynamical tides are characterised not only by the star's tidal deformability but also by its fundamental ($f$-) mode frequency, they present a possibility of probing higher-order tidal effects and test consistency with quasi-universal relations. For a GW170817-like signal in a third generation detector network, we find that the stars' $f$-mode frequencies can be measured to within a few hundred Hz., Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures

The general-relativistic phenomenon of spin-induced orbital precession has not yet been observed in strong-field gravity. Gravitational-wave observations of binary black holes (BBHs) are prime candidates, since we expect the astrophysical binary population to contain precessing binaries. Imprints of precession have been investigated in several signals, but no definitive identification of orbital precession has been reported in any one of the 84 BBH observations to date by the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors. Here we report the measurement of strong-field precession in the LIGO-Virgo-Kagra (LVK) gravitational-wave signal GW200129. The binary's orbit precesses at a rate ten orders of magnitude faster than previous weak-field measurements from binary pulsars. We also find that the primary black hole is likely highly spinning. According to current binary population estimates a GW200129-like signal is extremely unlikely, and therefore presents a direct challenge to many current binary formation models., Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures. Update to match published version

Gravitational waves (GWs) from inspiralling neutron stars afford us a unique opportunity to infer the as-of-yet unknown equation of state of cold hadronic matter at supranuclear densities. During the inspiral, the dominant matter effects are arise due to the star's response to their companion's tidal field, leaving a characteristic imprint in the emitted GW signal. This unique signature allows us to constrain the cold neutron star equation of state. At GW frequencies above $\gtrsim 800$Hz, however, subdominant tidal effects known as dynamical tides become important. In this letter, we demonstrate that neglecting dynamical tidal effects associated with the fundamental ($f$-) mode leads to large systematic biases in the measured tidal deformability of the stars and hence in the inferred neutron star equation of state. Importantly, we find that $f$-mode dynamical tides will already be relevant for Advanced LIGO's and Virgo's fifth observing run ($\sim 2025$) -- neglecting dynamical tides can lead to errors on the neutron radius of $\mathcal{O}(1{\rm km})$, with dramatic implications for the measurement of the equation of state. Our results demonstrate that the accurate modelling of subdominant tidal effects beyond the adiabatic limit will be crucial to perform accurate measurements of the neutron star equation of state in upcoming GW observations., Comment: 7 pages and 3 figures. Supplemental material: 3 pages and 3 figures. Comments and feedback welcome!

We present a rapid analytic framework for predicting kilonova light curves following neutron star (NS) mergers, where the main input parameters are binary-based properties measurable by gravitational wave detectors (chirp mass and mass ratio, orbital inclination) and properties dependent on the nuclear equation of state (tidal deformability, maximum NS mass). This enables synthesis of a kilonova sample for any NS source population, or determination of the observing depth needed to detect a live kilonova given gravitational wave source parameters in low latency. We validate this code, implemented in the public MOSFiT package, by fitting it to GW170817. A Bayes factor analysis overwhelmingly ($B>10^{10}$) favours the inclusion of an additional luminosity source in addition to lanthanide-poor dynamical ejecta during the first day. This is well fit by a shock-heated cocoon model, though differences in the ejecta structure, opacity or nuclear heating rate cannot be ruled out as alternatives. The emission thereafter is dominated by a lanthanide-rich viscous wind. We find the mass ratio of the binary is $q=0.92\pm0.07$ (90% credible interval). We place tight constraints on the maximum stable NS mass, $M_{\rm TOV}=2.17^{+0.08}_{-0.11}$ M$_\odot$. For a uniform prior in tidal deformability, the radius of a 1.4 M$_\odot$ NS is $R_{1.4}\sim 10.7$ km. Re-weighting with a prior based on equations of state that support our credible range in $M_{\rm TOV}$, we derive a final measurement $R_{1.4}=11.06^{+1.01}_{-0.98}$ km. Applying our code to the second gravitationally-detected neutron star merger, GW190425, we estimate that an associated kilonova would have been fainter (by $\sim0.7$ mag at one day post-merger) and declined faster than GW170817, underlining the importance of tuning follow-up strategies individually for each GW-detected NS merger., Comment: Updated to match accepted version in MNRAS

Accurately modelling the complete gravitational-wave signal from precessing binary black holes through the late inspiral, merger and ringdown remains a challenging problem. The lack of analytic solutions for the precession dynamics of generic double-spin systems, and the high dimensionality of the problem, obfuscate the incorporation of strong-field spin-precession information into semi-analytic waveform models used in gravitational-wave data analysis. Previously, an effective precession spin, $\chi_p$, was introduced to reduce the number of spin degrees of freedom. Here, we show that $\chi_p$ alone does not accurately reproduce higher-order multipolar modes, in particular the ones that carry strong imprints due to precession such as the $(2,1)$-mode. To improve the higher-mode content, and in particular to facilitate an accurate incorporation of precession effects in the strong-field regime into waveform models, we introduce a new dimensional reduction through an effective precession spin vector, $\vec{\chi}_\perp$, which takes into account precessing spin information from both black holes. We show that this adapted effective precession spin (i) mimics the precession dynamics of the fully precessing configuration remarkably well, (ii) captures the signature features of precession in higher-order modes, and (iii) reproduces the final state of the remnant black hole with high accuracy for the overwhelming majority of configurations. We demonstrate the efficacy of this two-dimensional precession spin in the strong-field regime, paving the path for meaningful calibration of the precessing sector of semi-analytic waveform models with a faithful representation of higher-order modes through merger and the remnant black hole spin., Comment: Matches version published in Phys. Rev. D. 23 pages (incl. appendices and bibliography), 17 figures

Originally designed for waveform approximants, the effective precession parameter $\chi_\mathrm{p}$ is the most commonly used quantity to characterize spin-precession effects in gravitational-wave observations of black-hole binary coalescences. We point out that the current definition of $\chi_\mathrm{p}$ retains some, but not all, variations taking place on the precession timescale. We rectify this inconsistency and propose more general definitions that either fully consider or fully average those oscillations. Our generalized parameter $\chi_\mathrm{p}\in[0,2]$ presents an exclusive region $\chi_\mathrm{p}>1$ that can only be populated by binaries with two precessing spins. We apply our prescriptions to current LIGO/Virgo events and find that posterior distributions of $\chi_\mathrm{p}$ tend to show longer tails at larger values. This appears to be a generic feature, implying that (i) current $\chi_\mathrm{p}$ measurement errors might be underestimated, but also that (ii) evidence for spin precession in current data might be stronger than previously inferred. Among the gravitational-wave events released to date, that which shows the most striking behavior is GW190521., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Published in PRD. Software available at https://github.com/dgerosa/generalizedchip

Gravitational wave (GW) transients from binary neutron star (BNS) coalescences can, in principle, be subject to gravitational lensing thereby increasing the amplitude and signal-to-noise ratio. We estimate the rate of lensed BNS events resolvable by LIGO and Virgo and find that it is constrained by the current non-detection of a stochastic GW background. Following closely the formalism we developed (10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.141102) in the context of binary black hole lensing, we show that at current sensitivities the fraction of BNS coalescences with lensing magnifications $\mu> 1.02$ is less than $\sim 7\times 10^{-8}$ and therefore such events should not be expected in the near future. We also make predictions for projected future sensitivities., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, published in Physical Review D (22 October 2020)

Gravitational-wave observations of merging compact binaries hold the key to precision measurements of the objects' masses and spins. General-relativistic precession, caused by spins misaligned with the orbital angular momentum, is considered a crucial tracer for determining the binary's formation history and environment, and it also improves mass estimates -- its measurement is therefore of particular interest with wide-ranging implications. Precession leaves a characteristic signature in the emitted gravitational-wave signal that is even more pronounced in binaries with highly unequal masses. The recent observations of GW190412 and GW190814 have confirmed the existence of such asymmetric compact binaries. Here, we perform a systematic study to assess the confidence in measuring precession in gravitational-wave observations of high mass ratio binaries and, our ability to measure the mass of the lighter companion in neutron star -- black hole type systems. Using Bayesian model selection, we show that precession can be decisively identified for low-mass binaries with mass ratios as low as $1:3$ and mildly precessing spins with magnitudes $\lesssim 0.4$, even in the presence of systematic waveform errors., Comment: 18 pages incl. appendices and bibliography, 12 figures, 4 tables; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Research

Gravitational waves (GWs) are subject to gravitational lensing in the same way as electromagnetic radiation. However, to date, no unequivocal observation of a lensed GW transient has been reported. Independently, GW observatories continue to search for the stochastic GW signal which is produced by many transient events at high redshift. We exploit a surprising connection between the lensing of individual transients and limits to the background radiation produced by the unresolved population of binary back hole mergers: we show that it constrains the fraction of individually resolvable lensed binary black holes to less than $\sim 4\times 10^{-5}$ at present sensitivity. We clarify the interpretation of existing, low redshift GW observations (obtained assuming no lensing) in terms of their apparent lensed redshifts and masses and explore constraints from GW observatories at future sensitivity. Based on our results, recent claims of observations of lensed events are statistically disfavoured., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, includes Supplemental material, published in Physical Review Letters

The detection of gravitational waves (GWs) from binary black holes (BBHs) has allowed the theory of general relativity to be tested in a previously unstudied regime: that of strong curvature and high GW luminosities. One distinctive and measurable effect associated with this aspect of the theory is the nonlinear GW memory effect. The GW memory effect is characterized by its effect on freely falling observers: the proper distance between their locations differs before and after a burst of GWs passes by their locations. Gravitational-wave interferometers, like the LIGO and Virgo detectors, can measure features of this effect from a single BBH merger, but previous work has shown that it will require an event that is significantly more massive and closer than any previously detected GW event. Finding evidence for the GW memory effect within the entire population of BBH mergers detected by LIGO and Virgo is more likely to occur sooner. A prior study has shown that the GW memory effect could be detected in a population of BBHs consisting of binaries like the first GW150914 event after roughly one-hundred events. In this paper, we compute forecasts of the time it will take the advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors (when the detectors are operating at their design sensitivities) to find evidence for the GW memory effect in a population of BBHs that is consistent with the measured population of events in the first two observing runs of the LIGO detectors. We find that after five years of data collected by the advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors the signal-to-noise ratio for the nonlinear GW memory effect in the population will be about three (near a previously used threshold for detection). We point out that the different approximation methods used to compute the GW memory effect can lead to notably different signal-to-noise ratios., Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures

The current paradigm for constructing waveforms from precessing compact binaries is to first construct a waveform in a non-inertial, co-precessing binary source frame followed by a time-dependent rotation to map back to the physical, inertial frame. A key insight in the construction of these models is that the co-precessing waveform can be effectively mapped to some equivalent aligned spin waveform. Secondly, the time-dependent rotation implicitly introduces $m$-mode mixing, necessitating an accurate description of higher-order modes in the co-precessing frame. We assess the efficacy of this modelling strategy in the strong field regime using Numerical Relativity simulations. We find that this framework allows for the highly accurate construction of $(2,\pm 2)$ modes in our data set, while for higher order modes, especially the $(2,|1|), (3,|2|)$ and $(4,|3|)$ modes, we find rather large mismatches. We also investigate a variant of the approximate map between co-precessing and aligned spin waveforms, where we only identify the slowly varying part of the time domain co-precessing waveforms with the aligned-spin one, but find no significant improvement. Our results indicate that the simple paradigm to construct precessing waveforms does not provide an accurate description of higher order modes in the strong-field regime, and demonstrate the necessity for modelling mode asymmetries and mode-mixing to significantly improve the description of precessing higher order modes., Comment: Improved version: correcting typos, adding acknowledgement and more references

The first detection of gravitational waves (GWs) from the binary neutron star (NS) inspiral GW170817 has opened a unique channel for probing the fundamental properties of matter at supra-nuclear densities inaccessible elsewhere in the Universe. This observation yielded the first constraints on the equation of state (EoS) of NS matter from the GW imprint of tidal interactions. Tidal signatures in the GW arise from the response of a matter object to the spacetime curvature sourced by its binary companion. They crucially depend on the EoS and are predominantly characterised by the tidal deformability parameters $\Lambda_{\ell}$, where $\ell=2,3$ denotes the quadrupole and octupole respectively. As the binary evolves towards merger, additional dynamical tidal effects become important when the orbital frequency approaches a resonance with the stars' internal oscillation modes. Among these modes, the fundamental ($f_\ell$-)modes have the strongest tidal coupling and can give rise to a cumulative imprint in the GW signal even if the resonance is not fully excited. Here we present the first direct constraints on fundamental oscillation mode frequencies for GW170817 using an inspiral GW phase model with an explicit dependence on the $f$-mode frequency and without assuming any relation between $f_\ell$ and $\Lambda_\ell$. We rule out anomalously small values of $f_\ell$ and, for the larger companion, determine a lower bound on the $f_2$-mode ($f_3$-mode) frequency of $\geq 1.39$ kHz ($\geq 1.86$ kHz) at the 90\% credible interval (CI). We then show that networks of future GW detectors will be able to measure $f$-mode frequencies to within tens of Hz from the inspiral alone. Such precision astroseismology will enable novel tests of fundamental physics and the nature of compact binaries., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures

The recent detection of gravitational waves (GWs) from the neutron star binary inspiral GW170817 has opened a unique avenue to probe matter and fundamental interactions in previously unexplored regimes. Extracting information on neutron star matter from the observed GWs requires robust and computationally efficient theoretical waveform models. We develop an approximate frequency-domain GW phase model of a main GW signature of matter: dynamic tides associated with the neutron stars' fundamental oscillation modes ($f$-modes). We focus on nonspinning objects on circular orbits and demonstrate that, despite its mathematical simplicity, the new "$f$-mode tidal" (fmtidal) model is in good agreement with the effective-one-body dynamical tides model up to GW frequencies of $\gtrsim 1$ kHz and gives physical meaning to part of the phenomenology captured in tidal models tuned to numerical-relativity. The advantages of the fmtidal model are that it makes explicit the dependence of the GW phasing on the characteristic equation-of-state parameters, i.e., tidal deformabilities and $f$-mode frequencies; it is computationally efficient; and it can readily be added to any frequency-domain baseline waveform. The fmtidal model is easily amenable to future improvements and provides the means for a first step towards independently measuring additional fundamental properties of neutron star matter beyond the tidal deformability as well as performing novel tests of general relativity from GW observations., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures; matches published version

Accurate models of gravitational waves from merging black holes are necessary for detectors to observe as many events as possible while extracting the maximum science. Near the time of merger, the gravitational waves from merging black holes can be computed only using numerical relativity. In this paper, we present a major update of the Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) Collaboration catalog of numerical simulations for merging black holes. The catalog contains 2018 distinct configurations (a factor of 11 increase compared to the 2013 SXS catalog), including 1426 spin-precessing configurations, with mass ratios between 1 and 10, and spin magnitudes up to 0.998. The median length of a waveform in the catalog is 39 cycles of the dominant $\ell=m=2$ gravitational-wave mode, with the shortest waveform containing 7.0 cycles and the longest 351.3 cycles. We discuss improvements such as correcting for moving centers of mass and extended coverage of the parameter space. We also present a thorough analysis of numerical errors, finding typical truncation errors corresponding to a waveform mismatch of $\sim 10^{-4}$. The simulations provide remnant masses and spins with uncertainties of 0.03% and 0.1% ($90^{\text{th}}$ percentile), about an order of magnitude better than analytical models for remnant properties. The full catalog is publicly available at https://www.black-holes.org/waveforms ., Comment: 33+18 pages, 13 figures, 4 tables, 2,018 binaries. Catalog metadata in ancillary JSON file. v2: Matches version accepted by CQG. Catalog available at https://www.black-holes.org/waveforms

We present a detailed investigation into the properties of GW170729, the gravitational wave with the most massive and distant source confirmed to date. We employ an extensive set of waveform models, including new improved models that incorporate the effect of higher-order waveform modes which are particularly important for massive systems. We find no indication of spin-precession, but the inclusion of higher-order modes in the models results in an improved estimate for the mass ratio of $(0.3-0.8)$ at the 90\% credible level. Our updated measurement excludes equal masses at that level. We also find that models with higher-order modes lead to the data being more consistent with a smaller effective spin, with the probability that the effective spin is greater than zero being reduced from $99\%$ to $94\%$. The 90\% credible interval for the effective spin parameter is now $(-0.01-0.50)$. Additionally, the recovered signal-to-noise ratio increases by $\sim0.3$ units compared to analyses without higher-order modes. We study the effect of common spin priors on the derived spin and mass measurements, and observe small shifts in the spins, while the masses remain unaffected. We argue that our conclusions are robust against systematic errors in the waveform models. We also compare the above waveform-based analysis which employs compact-binary waveform models to a more flexible wavelet- and chirplet-based analysis. We find consistency between the two, with overlaps of $\sim 0.9$, typical of what is expected from simulations of signals similar to GW170729, confirming that the data are well-described by the existing waveform models. Finally, we study the possibility that the primary component of GW170729 was the remnant of a past merger of two black holes and find this scenario to be indistinguishable from the standard formation scenario., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, final published version, samples available at https://git.ligo.org/katerina.chatziioannou/gw170729hm_datarelease

The discovery of GW170817 with gravitational waves (GWs) and electromagnetic (EM) radiation is prompting new questions in strong-gravity astrophysics. Importantly, it remains unknown whether the progenitor of the merger comprised two neutron stars (NSs), or a NS and a black hole (BH). Using new numerical-relativity simulations and incorporating modeling uncertainties we produce novel GW and EM observables for NS-BH mergers with similar masses. A joint analysis of GW and EM measurements reveals that if GW170817 is a NS-BH merger, <40% of the binary parameters consistent with the GW data are compatible with EM observations., Comment: 8 pages

The grand challenges of contemporary fundamental physics---dark matter, dark energy, vacuum energy, inflation and early universe cosmology, singularities and the hierarchy problem---all involve gravity as a key component. And of all gravitational phenomena, black holes stand out in their elegant simplicity, while harbouring some of the most remarkable predictions of General Relativity: event horizons, singularities and ergoregions. The hitherto invisible landscape of the gravitational Universe is being unveiled before our eyes: the historical direct detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration marks the dawn of a new era of scientific exploration. Gravitational-wave astronomy will allow us to test models of black hole formation, growth and evolution, as well as models of gravitational-wave generation and propagation. It will provide evidence for event horizons and ergoregions, test the theory of General Relativity itself, and may reveal the existence of new fundamental fields. The synthesis of these results has the potential to radically reshape our understanding of the cosmos and of the laws of Nature. The purpose of this work is to present a concise, yet comprehensive overview of the state of the art in the relevant fields of research, summarize important open problems, and lay out a roadmap for future progress., Comment: White Paper for the COST action "Gravitational Waves, Black Holes, and Fundamental Physics", 272 pages, 12 figures; v4: updated references and author list. Overall improvements and corrections. To appear in Classical and Quantum Gravity

We present TEOBResumS, a new effective-one-body (EOB) waveform model for nonprecessing (spin-aligned) and tidally interacting compact binaries.Spin-orbit and spin-spin effects are blended together by making use of the concept of centrifugal EOB radius. The point-mass sector through merger and ringdown is informed by numerical relativity (NR) simulations of binary black holes (BBH) computed with the SpEC and BAM codes. An improved, NR-based phenomenological description of the postmerger waveform is developed.The tidal sector of TEOBResumS describes the dynamics of neutron star binaries up to merger and incorporates a resummed attractive potential motivated by recent advances in the post-Newtonian and gravitational self-force description of relativistic tidal interactions. Equation-of-state dependent self-spin interactions (monopole-quadrupole effects) are incorporated in the model using leading-order post-Newtonian results in a new expression of the centrifugal radius. TEOBResumS is compared to 135 SpEC and 19 BAM BBH waveforms. The maximum unfaithfulness to SpEC data $\bar{F}$ -- at design Advanced-LIGO sensitivity and evaluated with total mass $M$ varying between $10M_\odot \leq M \leq 200 M_\odot$ --is always below $2.5 \times 10^{-3}$ except for a single outlier that grazes the $7.1 \times 10^{-3}$ level. When compared to BAM data, $\bar{F}$ is smaller than $0.01$ except for a single outlier in one of the corners of the NR-covered parameter space, that reaches the $0.052$ level.TEOBResumS is also compatible, up to merger, to high end NR waveforms from binary neutron stars with spin effects and reduced initial eccentricity computed with the BAM and THC codes. The model is designed to generate accurate templates for the analysis of LIGO-Virgo data through merger and ringdown. We demonstrate its use by analyzing the publicly available data for GW150914., Comment: 39 pages, 36 figures. Extended appendix with discussion of the postmerger fits. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D

Thanks to the recent discoveries of gravitational wave signals from binary black hole mergers by Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory and Advanced Virgo, the genuinely strong-field dynamics of spacetime can now be probed, allowing for stringent tests of general relativity (GR). One set of tests consists of allowing for parametrized deformations away from GR in the template waveform models and then constraining the size of the deviations, as was done for the detected signals in previous work. In this paper, we construct reduced-order quadratures so as to speed up likelihood calculations for parameter estimation on future events. Next, we explicitly demonstrate the robustness of the parametrized tests by showing that they will correctly indicate consistency with GR if the theory is valid. We also check to what extent deviations from GR can be constrained as information from an increasing number of detections is combined. Finally, we evaluate the sensitivity of the method to possible violations of GR., Comment: 19 pages, many figures. Matches PRD version

This document describes the new Numerical Relativity (NR) injection infrastructure in the LIGO Algorithms Library (LAL), which henceforth allows for the usage of NR waveforms as a discrete waveform approximant in LAL. With this new interface, NR waveforms provided in the described format can directly be used as simulated GW signals ("injections") for data analyses, which include parameter estimation, searches, hardware injections etc. As opposed to the previous infrastructure, this new interface natively handles sub-dominant modes and waveforms from numerical simulations of precessing binary black holes, making them directly accessible to LIGO analyses. To correctly handle precessing simulations, the new NR injection infrastructure internally transforms the NR data into the coordinate frame convention used in LAL., Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, technical report

We present the first surrogate model for gravitational waveforms from the coalescence of precessing binary black holes. We call this surrogate model NRSur4d2s. Our methodology significantly extends recently introduced reduced-order and surrogate modeling techniques, and is capable of directly modeling numerical relativity waveforms without introducing phenomenological assumptions or approximations to general relativity. Motivated by GW150914, LIGO's first detection of gravitational waves from merging black holes, the model is built from a set of $276$ numerical relativity (NR) simulations with mass ratios $q \leq 2$, dimensionless spin magnitudes up to $0.8$, and the restriction that the initial spin of the smaller black hole lies along the axis of orbital angular momentum. It produces waveforms which begin $\sim 30$ gravitational wave cycles before merger and continue through ringdown, and which contain the effects of precession as well as all $\ell \in \{2, 3\}$ spin-weighted spherical-harmonic modes. We perform cross-validation studies to compare the model to NR waveforms \emph{not} used to build the model, and find a better agreement within the parameter range of the model than other, state-of-the-art precessing waveform models, with typical mismatches of $10^{-3}$. We also construct a frequency domain surrogate model (called NRSur4d2s_FDROM) which can be evaluated in $50\, \mathrm{ms}$ and is suitable for performing parameter estimation studies on gravitational wave detections similar to GW150914., Comment: 34 pages, 26 figures