arXiv subjects

B. O'Brien

Publications and source records attributed to B. O'Brien.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2022

Eccentricity Estimate for Black Hole Mergers with Numerical Relativity Simulations

The origin of black hole mergers discovered by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave observatories is currently unknown. GW190521 is the heaviest black hole merger detected so far. Its observed high mass and possible spin-induced orbital precession could arise from the binary having formed following a close encounter. An observational signature of close encounters is eccentric binary orbit; however, this feature is currently difficult to identify due to the lack of suitable gravitational waveforms. No eccentric merger has been previously found. Here we report 611 numerical relativity simulations covering the full eccentricity range and an estimation approach to probe the eccentricity of mergers. Our set of simulations corresponds to $\sim 10^5$ waveforms, comparable to the number used in gravitational wave searches, albeit with coarser mass-ratio and spin resolution. We applied our approach to GW190521 and found that it is the most consistent with a highly eccentric ($e=0.69^{+0.17}_{-0.22}$; 90% credible level) merger within our set of waveforms. This interpretation is supported over a non-eccentric merger with $>10$ Odds ratio if $\gtrsim10\%$ of GW190521-like mergers are highly eccentric. Detectable orbital eccentricity would be evidence against an isolated binary origin, which is otherwise difficult to rule out based on observed mass and spin.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

Search for binary black hole mergers in the third observing run of Advanced LIGO-Virgo using coherent WaveBurst enhanced with machine learning

In this work, we use the coherent WaveBurst (cWB) pipeline enhanced with machine learning (ML) to search for binary black hole (BBH) mergers in the Advanced LIGO-Virgo strain data from the third observing run (O3). We detect, with equivalent or higher significance, all gravitational-wave (GW) events previously reported by the standard cWB search for BBH mergers in the third GW Transient Catalog (GWTC-3). The ML-enhanced cWB search identifies five additional GW candidate events from the catalog that were previously missed by the standard cWB search. Moreover, we identify three marginal candidate events not listed in GWTC-3. For simulated events distributed uniformly in a fiducial volume, we improve the detection efficiency with respect to the standard cWB search by approximately $20\%$ for both stellar-mass and intermediate mass black hole binary mergers, detected with a false-alarm rate less than $1\,\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$. We show the robustness of the ML-enhanced search for detection of generic BBH signals by reporting increased sensitivity to the spin-precessing and eccentric BBH events as compared to the standard cWB search. Furthermore, we compare the improvement of the ML-enhanced cWB search for different detector networks.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

The search of higher multipole radiation in gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences by a minimally-modelled pipeline

The coherent WaveBurst (cWB) pipeline implements a minimally-modelled search to find a coherent response in the network of gravitational wave detectors of the LIGO-Virgo Collaboration in the time-frequency domain. In this manuscript, we provide a timely introduction to an extension of the cWB analysis to detect spectral features beyond the main quadrupolar emission of gravitational waves during the inspiral phase of compact binary coalescences; more detailed discussion will be provided in a forthcoming paper [1]. The search is performed by defining specific regions in the time-frequency map to extract the energy of harmonics of main quadrupole mode in the inspiral phase. This method has already been used in the GW190814 discovery paper (Astrophys. J. Lett. 896 L44). Here we show the procedure to detect the (3, 3) multipole in GW190814 within the cWB framework. Keywords: gravitational waves, analysis, multipoles, compact binary coalescences

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

Hubble Constant Measurement with GW190521 as an Eccentric Black Hole Merger

Gravitational wave observations can be used to accurately measure the Hubble constant $H_0$ and could help understand the present discrepancy between constraints from Type Ia supernovae and the cosmic microwave background. Neutron star mergers are primarily used for this purpose as their electromagnetic emission can be used to greatly reduce measurement uncertainties. Here we estimate $H_0$ using the recently observed black hole merger GW190521 and its candidate electromagnetic counterpart found by ZTF using a highly eccentric explanation of the properties of GW190521. We find that the reconstructed distance of GW190521 and the redshift of the candidate host galaxy are more consistent with standard cosmology for our eccentric model than if we reconstruct the source parameters assuming no eccentricity. We obtain $H_0=88.6^{+17.1}_{-34.3}$\,km\,s$^{-1}$Mpc$^{-1}$ for GW190521, and $H_0=73.4^{+6.9}_{-10.7}$\,km\,s$^{-1}$Mpc$^{-1}$ in combination with the results of the neutron star merger GW170817. Our results indicate that future $H_0$ computations using black hole mergers will need to account for possible eccentricity. For extreme cases, the orbital velocity of binaries in AGN disks can represent a significant systematic uncertainty.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Development of transmon qubits solely from optical lithography on 300mm wafers

Qubit information processors are increasing in footprint but currently rely on e-beam lithography for patterning the required Josephson junctions (JJs). Advanced optical lithography is an alternative patterning method, and we report on the development of transmon qubits patterned solely with optical lithography. The lithography uses 193 nm wavelength exposure and 300-mm large silicon wafers. Qubits and arrays of evaluation JJs were patterned with process control which resulted in narrow feature distributions: a standard deviation of 0:78% for a 220 nm linewidth pattern realized across over half the width of the wafers. Room temperature evaluation found a 2.8-3.6% standard deviation in JJ resistance in completed chips. The qubits used aluminum and titanium nitride films on silicon substrates without substantial silicon etching. T1 times of the qubits were extracted at 26 - 27 microseconds, indicating a low level of material-based qubit defects. This study shows that large wafer optical lithography on silicon is adequate for high-quality transmon qubits, and shows a promising path for improving many-qubit processors.

physics.app-ph↗