Is GW190521 a gravitational wave echo of wormhole remnant from another universe?

We discuss the extraction of information from detected binary black hole (BBH) coalescence gravitational waves by the ground-based interferometers LIGO and VIRGO, and by the space-based interferometer LISA. We focus on the merger phase that occurs after the gradual inspiral and before the ringdown. Our results are (i) if numerical relativity simulations have not produced template merger waveforms before BBH events are detected, one can study the merger waves using simple band-pass filters. For BBHs smaller than about ${40M}_{\ensuremath{\bigodot}}$ detected via their inspiral waves, the band-pass filtering signal-to-noise ratio indicates that the merger waves should typically be just barely visible in the noise for initial and advanced LIGO interferometers. (ii) We derive an optimized maximum-likelihood method for extracting a best-fit merger waveform from the noisy detector output; one ``perpendicularly projects'' this output onto a function space (specified using wavelets) that incorporates our (possibly sketchy) prior knowledge of the waveforms. An extension of the method allows one to extract the BBH's two independent waveforms from outputs of several interferometers. (iii) We propose a computational strategy for numerical relativists to pursue, if they successfully produce computer codes for generating merger waveforms, but if running the codes is too expensive to permit an extensive survey of the merger parameter space. In this case, for LIGO-VIRGO data analysis purposes, it would be advantageous to do a coarse survey of the parameter space aimed at exploring several qualitative issues and at determining the ranges of the several key parameters which we describe. (iv) A complete set of templates could be used to test the nonlinear dynamics of general relativity and to measure some of the binary's parameters via matched filtering. We estimate the number of bits of information obtainable from the merger waves (about 10--60 for LIGO-VIRGO, up to 200 for LISA), estimate the information loss due to template numerical errors or sparseness in the template grid, and infer approximate requirements on template accuracy and spacing.

Waveform models are important to gravitational wave data analysis. People recently pay much attention to the waveform model construction for eccentric binary black hole (BBH) coalescence. Several effective-one-body (EOB) Numerical-Relativity waveform models of eccentric BBH coalescence have been constructed. But none of them can treat orbit eccentricity and spin-precessing simultaneously. The current paper focuses on this problem. The authors previously have constructed waveform model for spin-aligned eccentric BBH coalescence SEOBNRE. Here we extend such waveform model to describe eccentric spin-precessing BBH coalescence. We calculate the 2PN orbital radiation-reaction forces and the instantaneous part of the decomposed waveform for a general spinning precessing BBH system in EOB coordinates. We implement these results based on our previous SEOBNRE waveform model. We have also compared our model waveforms to both SXS and RIT numerical relativity waveforms. We find good consistency between our model and numerical relativity. Based on our new waveform model, we analyze the impact of the non-perpendicular spin contributions on waveform accuracy. We find that the non-perpendicular spin contributions primarily affect the phase of the gravitational waveforms. For the current gravitational wave detectors, this contribution is not significant. The future detectors may be affected by such non-perpendicular spin contributions. More importantly our SEOBNRE waveform model, as the first theoretical waveform model to describe eccentric spin-precessing BBH coalescence, can help people to analyze orbit eccentricity and spin precession simultaneously for gravitational wave detection data.

In the past few years, the detection of gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences with the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors has become routine. Future observatories will detect even larger numbers of gravitational-wave signals, which will also spend a longer time in the detectors' sensitive band. This will eventually lead to overlapping signals, especially in the case of Einstein Telescope (ET) and Cosmic Explorer (CE). Using realistic distributions for the merger rate as a function of redshift as well as for component masses in binary neutron star and binary black hole coalescences, we map out how often signal overlaps of various types will occur in an ET-CE network over the course of a year. We find that a binary neutron star signal will typically have tens of overlapping binary black hole and binary neutron star signals. Moreover, it will happen up to tens of thousands of times per year that two signals will have their end times within seconds of each other. In order to understand to what extent this would lead to measurement biases with current parameter estimation methodology, we perform injection studies with overlapping signals from binary black hole and/or binary neutron star coalescences. Varying the signal-to-noise ratios, the durations of overlap, and the kinds of overlapping signals, we find that in most scenarios the intrinsic parameters can be recovered with negligible bias. However, we find large offsets for a short binary black hole or a quieter binary neutron star signal overlapping with a long and louder binary neutron star event when the merger times are sufficiently close. Although based on a limited number of simulations, our studies may be an indicator of where improvements are required to ensure reliable estimation of source parameters for all detected compact binary signals as we go from second-generation to third-generation detectors.

The gravitational wave (GW) signature of a binary black hole (BBH) coalescence is characterized by rapid frequency evolution in the late inspiral and merger phases. For a system with total mass larger than 100 M☉, ground based GW detectors are sensitive to the merger phase, and the in-band whitened waveform is a short-duration transient lasting about 10-30 ms. For a symmetric mass system with total mass between 10 and 100 M☉, the detector is sensitive instead to the inspiral phase and the in-band signal has a longer duration, between 30 ms -3 s. Omega is a search algorithm for GW bursts that, with the assumption of locally stationary frequency evolution, uses sine-Gaussian wavelets as a template bank to decompose interferometer strain data. The local stationarity of sine-Gaussian waveforms induces a performance loss for the detection of lower mass BBH signatures, due to the mismatch between template and signal. We present the performance of a modified version of the Omega algorithm, Chirplet Omega, which allows a linear variation of frequency, to target BBH coalescences. The use of Chirplet-like templates enhances the measured signal-to-noise ratio due to less mismatch between template and data, and increases the detectability of lower mass BBH coalescences. We present the results of a performance study of Chirplet Omega in colored Gaussian noise at initial LIGO sensitivity.

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_{⊙} BBH (motivated by GW150914) inside gas with realistic stellar densities. Our results show that at densities ρ≳10^{6}-10^{7} 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 appear to rule out BBH coalescence inside stellar gas of ρ≳10^{7} 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.

This paper reviews gravitational wave sources and their detection. One of the most exciting potential sources of gravitational waves are coalescing binary black hole systems. They can occur on all mass scales and be formed in numerous ways, many of which are not understood. They are generally invisible in electromagnetic waves, and they provide opportunities for deep investigation of Einstein's general theory of relativity. Sect. 1 of this paper considers ways that binary black holes can be created in the universe, and includes the prediction that binary black hole coalescence events are likely to be the first gravitational wave sources to be detected. The next parts of this paper address the detection of chirp waveforms from coalescence events in noisy data. Such analysis is computationally intensive. Sect. 2 reviews a new and powerful method of signal detection based on the GPU-implemented summed parallel infinite impulse response filters. Such filters are intrinsically real time alorithms, that can be used to rapidly detect and localise signals. Sect. 3 of the paper reviews the use of GPU processors for rapid searching for gravitational wave bursts that can arise from black hole births and coalescences. In sect. 4 the use of GPU processors to enable fast efficient statistical significance testing of gravitational wave event candidates is reviewed. Sect. 5 of this paper addresses the method of multimessenger astronomy where the discovery of electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave events can be used to identify sources, understand their nature and obtain much greater science outcomes from each identified event.

Gravitational waves (GWs) have rapidly become important cosmological probes since their first detection in 2015. As the number of detected events continues to rise, upcoming instruments like Einstein Telescope (ET) and Cosmic Explorer (CE) will observe millions of compact binary mergers. These detections, coupled with galaxy surveys by instruments such as the Dark Spectroscopic Energy Instrument (DESI), Euclid, and the Vera Rubin Observatory, will provide unique information on the large-scale structure of the universe by cross-correlating GWs with the distribution of galaxies hosting them. In this paper, we focus on how cross-correlations constrain the clustering bias of GWs emitted by the coalescence of binary black holes (BBHs). This parameter links BBHs to the underlying dark matter distribution, hence informing us how they populate galaxies. Using a multitracer approach, we forecast the precision of these measurements under different survey combinations. Our results indicate that current GW detectors will have limited precision, with measurement errors as high as $\displaystyle \sim 50~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$. However, third-generation detectors like ET, when cross-correlated with Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) data, can improve clustering bias measurements to within 2.5 per cent. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these cross-correlations can enable a per cent-level measurement of the magnification lensing effect on GWs. Despite this, there is a degeneracy between magnification and evolution biases, which hinders the precision of both. This degeneracy is most effectively addressed by assuming knowledge of one bias or targeting an optimal redshift range of $\displaystyle 1 \lt z \lt 2.5$. Our analysis opens new avenues for studying the distribution of BBHs and testing the nature of gravity through large-scale structure.

Context. Dynamical interactions in star clusters are an efficient mechanism to produce the coalescing binary black holes (BBHs) that have been detected with gravitational waves (GWs). Aims. We want to understand how BBH coalescence can occur during – or after – binary-single interactions with different mass ratios. Methods. We perform gravitational scattering experiments of binary-single interactions using different mass ratios of the binary components (q2 ≡ m2/m1 ≤ 1) and the incoming single (q3 ≡ m3/m1). We extract cross-sections and rates for (i) GW capture during resonant interactions; (ii) GW inspiral in between resonant interactions and apply the results to different globular cluster conditions. Results. We find that GW capture during resonant interactions is most efficient if q2 ≃ q3 and that the mass-ratio distribution of BBH coalescence due to inspirals is ∝ m1−1q2.9﹢α, where α is the exponent of the BH mass function. The total rate of GW captures and inspirals depends mostly on m1 and is relatively insensitive to q2 and q3. We show that eccentricity increase in direct (that is, non-resonant) encounters approximately doubles the rate of BBH inspirals in between resonant encounters. For a given GC mass and radius, the BBH merger rate in metal-rich GCs is approximately double that of metal-poor GCs, because of their (on average) lower BH masses (m1) and steeper BH mass function, yielding binaries with lower q. Conclusions. Our results enable the mass-ratio distribution of dynamically formed BBH mergers to be translated to the underlying BH mass function. The additional mechanism that leads to a doubling of the inspirals provides an explanation for the reported high fraction of in-cluster inspirals in N-body models of clusters.

Gravitational wave echoes have been proposed as a smoking-gun signature of exotic compact objects with near-horizon structure. Recently there have been observational claims that echoes are indeed present in stretches of data from Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo immediately following gravitational wave signals from presumed binary black hole mergers, as well as a binary neutron star merger. In this paper we deploy a morphology-independent search algorithm for echoes introduced in Tsang et al., Phys. Rev. D 98, 024023 (2018), which (a) is able to accurately reconstruct a possible echoes signal with minimal assumptions about their morphology, and (b) computes Bayesian evidences for the hypotheses that the data contain a signal, an instrumental glitch, or just stationary, Gaussian noise. Here we apply this analysis method to all the significant events in the first Gravitational Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC-1), which comprises the signals from binary black hole and binary neutron star coalescences found during the first and second observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. In all cases, the ratios of evidences for signal versus noise and signal versus glitch do not rise above their respective "background distributions" obtained from detector noise, the smallest $p$-value being 3% (for event GW170823). Hence we find no statistically significant evidence for echoes in GWTC-1.

Using gravitational waves to probe the geometry of the ringing remnant black hole formed in a binary black hole coalescence is a well-established way to test Einstein's theory of general relativity. However, doing so requires knowledge of when the predictions of black hole perturbation theory, i.e., quasinormal modes (QNMs), are a valid description of the emitted gravitational wave as well as what the amplitudes of these excitations are. In this work, we develop an algorithm to systematically extract QNMs from the ringdown of black hole merger simulations. Our algorithm improves upon previous ones in three ways: it fits over the two-sphere, enabling a complete model of the strain; it performs a reverse search in time for QNMs using a more robust nonlinear least squares routine called varpro; and it checks the variance of QNM amplitudes, which we refer to as ``stability,'' over an interval matching the natural timescale of each QNM. Using this algorithm, we not only demonstrate the stability of a multitude of QNMs and their overtones across the parameter space of quasicircular, nonprecessing binary black holes, but we also identify new quadratic QNMs that may be detectable in the near future using ground-based interferometers. Furthermore, we provide evidence which suggests that the source of remnant black hole perturbations is roughly independent of the overtone index in a given angular harmonic across binary parameter space, at least for overtones with $n\ensuremath{\lesssim}2$. This finding may hint at the spatiotemporal structure of ringdown perturbations in black hole coalescences, as well as the regime of validity of perturbation theory in the ringdown of these events.

We search for gravitational waves from the coalescence (inspiral, merger and ringdown) of binary black holes with data from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). Provided with well-described waveform models from General Relativity, matched filtering is employed in the GSTLAL analysis pipeline as the optimal detection technique for weak signals in Gaussian noise. The GSTLAL analysis pipeline filters data with waveform template banks, identifies triggers with SNR greater than 4, forms coincident triggers between multiple detectors in the LSC-Virgo Collaboration, and attempts to optimally separate signal from detector background noise fluctuations using a Chisquared test. We analyze high-statistics simulations of binary merger waveforms injected into LIGO recolored S6 data to evaluate the pipeline search sensitivity and to test the readiness of the pipeline for Advanced LIGO. With Advanced LIGO fully in operation by 2015 and the upgraded analysis pipelines, the expected detection rate is increased to as much as 100 events/year or more as compared to 0.01–1 events/year in Initial LIGO. Our work will make it possible to detect gravitational waves from binary black hole coalescence in Advanced LIGO data with high confidence. KEYWORDS: LIGO, Gravitational Waves, General Relativity, Coalescence, Black Hole Binaries, Noise Fluctuations, Matched Filtering, Chi-squared Test, Simulations, GSTLAL Analysis Pipeline

All ten LIGO/Virgo binary black hole (BH-BH) coalescences reported following the O1/O2 runs have near-zero effective spins. There are only three potential explanations for this. If the BH spin magnitudes are large, then: (i) either both BH spin vectors must be nearly in the orbital plane or (ii) the spin angular momenta of the BHs must be oppositely directed and similar in magnitude. Then there is also the possibility that (iii) the BH spin magnitudes are small. We consider the third hypothesis within the framework of the classical isolated binary evolution scenario of the BH-BH merger formation. We test three models of angular momentum transport in massive stars: a mildly efficient transport by meridional currents (as employed in the Geneva code), an efficient transport by the Tayler-Spruit magnetic dynamo (as implemented in the MESA code), and a very-efficient transport (as proposed by Fuller et al.) to calculate natal BH spins. We allow for binary evolution to increase the BH spins through accretion and account for the potential spin-up of stars through tidal interactions. Additionally, we update the calculations of the stellar-origin BH masses, including revisions to the history of star formation and to the chemical evolution across cosmic time. We find that we can simultaneously match the observed BH-BH merger rate density and BH masses and BH-BH effective spins. Models with efficient angular momentum transport are favored. The updated stellar-mass weighted gas-phase metallicity evolution now used in our models appears to be key for obtaining an improved reproduction of the LIGO/Virgo merger rate estimate. Mass losses during the pair-instability pulsation supernova phase are likely to be overestimated if the merger GW170729 hosts a BH more massive than 50 M⊙. We also estimate rates of black hole-neutron star (BH-NS) mergers from recent LIGO/Virgo observations. If, in fact. angular momentum transport in massive stars is efficient, then any (electromagnetic or gravitational wave) observation of a rapidly spinning BH would indicate either a very effective tidal spin up of the progenitor star (homogeneous evolution, high-mass X-ray binary formation through case A mass transfer, or a spin- up of a Wolf-Rayet star in a close binary by a close companion), significant mass accretion by the hole, or a BH formation through the merger of two or more BHs (in a dense stellar cluster).

We estimate the expected signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) from the three phases (inspiral, merger, and ringdown) of coalescing binary black holes (BBHs) for initial and advanced ground-based interferometers (LIGO-VIRGO) and for the space-based interferometer LISA. Ground-based interferometers can do moderate SNR (a few tens), moderate accuracy studies of BBH coalescences in the mass range of a few to about 2000 solar masses; LISA can do high SNR (of order 104), high accuracy studies in the mass range of about 105–108 solar masses. BBHs might well be the first sources detected by LIGO-VIRGO: they are visible to much larger distances—up to 500 Mpc by initial interferometers—than coalescing neutron star binaries (heretofore regarded as the “bread and butter” workhorse source for LIGO-VIRGO, visible to about 30 Mpc by initial interferometers). Low-mass BBHs (up to 50M⊙ for initial LIGO interferometers, 100M⊙ for advanced, 106M⊙ for LISA) are best searched for via their well-understood inspiral waves; higher mass BBHs must be searched for via their poorly understood merger waves and/or their well-understood ringdown waves. A matched filtering search for massive BBHs based on ringdown waves should be capable of finding BBHs in the mass range of about 100M⊙–700M⊙ out to ∼200 Mpc for initial LIGO interferometers, and in the mass range of ∼200M⊙ to ∼3000M⊙ out to about z=1 for advanced interferometers. The required number of templates is of the order of 6000 or less. Searches based on merger waves could increase the number of detected massive BBHs by a factor of the order of 10 over those found from inspiral and ringdown waves, without detailed knowledge of the waveform shapes, using a noise monitoring search algorithm which we describe. A full set of merger templates from numerical relativity simulations could further increase the number of detected BBHs by an additional factor of up to ∼4.

In this thesis, I present a number of studies intended to improve our understanding of black holes using gravitational waves. Although black holes are relatively well understood from a theory perspective, many questions remain about the nature of the black holes in our Universe. According to general relativity, astrophysical black holes are fully described by just their mass and spin. Yet, relying on electromagnetic-based observatories alone, we still know very little about the distribution of black hole masses or spins. Moreover, as merging black holes are invisible to these electromagnetic observatories, we cannot rely on them to provide us with information about the binary black hole merger rate or binary black hole formation channels. However, by observing gravitational wave signals from these inherently dark binaries, we will soon have some answers to these questions. Indeed, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has already revealed a great deal of new information about binary black holes; giving us an early glimpse into their mass and spin distributions and placing the first constraints on the binary black hole merger rate. This thesis contributes to the goal of probing the nature of black holes with gravitational waves. Binary black holes can form as an isolated binary in the galactic field or through dynamical encounters in high-density environments. Dynamical formation can significantly alter the binary parameters, which then become imprinted on the gravitational waveform. By simulating varying black hole populations in high-density globular clusters, we identify a population of highly eccentric binary black hole mergers that are characteristic of dynamical formation. Although these systems would circularize by the time they are visible in LIGO's frequency band, the future Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is capable of distinguishing this population of eccentric mergers from the circular mergers expected of isolated field-formed binaries. As these dynamically formed binaries depend on the size of the underlying black hole population in globular clusters, we can utilize the dynamically formed merger rate to infer globular cluster black hole populations -- allowing us to reveal information about binary black hole birth environments. In order to properly estimate the parameters of binary black holes from detected gravitational wave signals, such as their masses and spins, high-accuracy waveforms are a needed. The highest accuracy waveforms are those produced by numerical relativity simulations, which solve the full Einstein equations. Using the Spectral Einstein Code (SpEC), we expand the reach of numerical relativity to simulate binary black holes with nearly extremal spins, i.e., black holes with spins near the maximal value χ = 1. These waveforms are used to calibrate existing waveform approximants used in LIGO data analyses. This ensures that the systematic errors in these approximants are small enough that if highly-spinning systems are observed, the spins are recovered without bias. Although rapidly spinning binaries have remained elusive thus far, these waveforms ensure that the highest-spin systems can be detected in the quest to uncover the spin distribution of black holes. The end state of a binary black hole merger is a newly born, single black hole that rings down like a struck bell, sending its last few ripples of gravitational waves out into the spacetime. Embedded in this 'ringdown' signal are a multitude of specific frequencies. Einstein's theory of general relativity precisely predicts the ringdown frequencies of a black hole with a given mass and spin. The statement that a black hole is entirely described by just these two parameters is known as the no-hair theorem. For black holes that obey the laws of general relativity (and consequently, the no-hair theorem), these frequencies serve as a fingerprint for the black hole. However, if the objects we observe are not Einstein's black holes, but instead something more exotic, the frequencies will not have this property and this would be a spectacular surprise. A minimum of two tones are required for this test, each with an associated frequency and damping time that depend only on the mass and spin. The conventional no-hair test relies on the so-called 'fundamental' tones of a black hole. A test relying on the fundamental modes is not expected to be feasible for another ~10-15 years, after detector sensitivity has improved significantly. However, by analyzing the ringdown of high-accuracy numerical relativity waveforms, we show that modes beyond the fundamental, known as 'overtones', are detectable in current detectors. The overtones are short-lived, but this is countered by the fact that they can initially be much stronger than the fundamental mode. By measuring two tones in the ringdown of GW150914 we perform a first test of the no-hair theorem. While the current constraints are rather loose, this first test serves as a proof of principle. This is just one example of the powerful tests that can be employed with overtones using present day detectors and the even more precise tests that can be accomplished with LISA in the future.

In LIGO’s O1 and O2 observational runs, the detectors were sensitive to stellar-mass binary black hole (BBH) coalescences with component masses up to , with binaries with primary masses above representing ≳90% of the total accessible sensitive volume. Nonetheless, of the 5.9 detections (GW150914, LVT151012, GW151226, GW170104, GW170608, and GW170814) reported by LIGO-Virgo, the most massive binary detected was GW150914 with a primary component mass of , far below the detection mass limit. Furthermore, there are theoretical arguments in favor of an upper mass gap, predicting an absence of black holes in the mass range . We argue that the absence of detected binary systems with component masses heavier than may be preliminary evidence for this upper mass gap. By allowing for the presence of a mass gap, we find weaker constraints on the shape of the underlying mass distribution of BBHs. We fit a power-law distribution with an upper mass cutoff to real and simulated BBH mass measurements, finding that the first 3.9 BBHs favor shallow power-law slopes and an upper mass cutoff . This inferred distribution is entirely consistent with the two recently reported detections, GW170608 and GW170814. We show that with ∼10 additional LIGO-Virgo BBH detections, fitting the BH mass distribution will provide strong evidence for an upper mass gap if one exists.