arXiv subjects

David Nichols

Publications and source records attributed to David Nichols.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Probing dark-matter effects with gravitational waves using the parameterized post-Einsteinian framework

A massive black hole can develop a dark-matter overdensity, and the dark matter changes the evolution of a stellar-mass compact object inspiraling around the massive black hole through the dense dark-matter environment. Specifically, dynamical friction speeds up the inspiral of the compact object and causes feedback on the dark-matter distribution. These intermediate mass-ratio inspirals with dark matter are a source of gravitational waves (GWs), and the waves can dephase significantly from an equivalent system in vacuum. Prior work has shown that this dephasing needs to be modeled to detect the GWs from these systems with LISA (the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna); it also showed that the density and distribution of dark matter can be inferred from a GW measurement. In this paper, we study whether the parametrized post-Einsteinian (ppE) framework can be used to infer the presence of dark matter in these systems. We confirm that if vacuum waveform templates are used to model the GWs from an inspiral in a dark-matter halo, then the resulting parameter estimation is biased. We then apply the ppE framework to determine whether it can reduce the parameter-estimation biases, and we find that adding one ppE phase term to a waveform template eliminates the parameter-estimation biases (statistical errors become larger than the systematic ones), but the effective post-Newtonian order in the ppE framework must be specified without uncertainties. When the post-Newtonian order has uncertainty, we find that the systematic errors on the ppE and the binary's parameters exceed the statistical errors. Thus, the simplest ppE framework would not give unbiased results for these systems, and a further extension of it, or dedicated parameter estimation with gravitational waveforms that include dark-matter effects would be needed.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

New Horizons for Fundamental Physics with LISA

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) has the potential to reveal wonders about the fundamental theory of nature at play in the extreme gravity regime, where the gravitational interaction is both strong and dynamical. In this white paper, the Fundamental Physics Working Group of the LISA Consortium summarizes the current topics in fundamental physics where LISA observations of GWs can be expected to provide key input. We provide the briefest of reviews to then delineate avenues for future research directions and to discuss connections between this working group, other working groups and the consortium work package teams. These connections must be developed for LISA to live up to its science potential in these areas.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Distinguishing the nature of comparable-mass neutron star binary systems with multimessenger observations: GW170817 case study

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.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Effective Completeness for S4.3.1-Theories with Respect to Discrete Linear Models

The computable model theory of modal logic was initiated by Suman Ganguli and Anil Nerode in [4]. They use an effective Henkin-type construction to effectivize various completeness theorems from classical modal logic. This construction has the feature of only producing models whose frames can be obtained by adding edges to a tree digraph. Consequently, this construction cannot prove an effective version of a well-known completeness theorem which states that every $\mathsf{S4.3.1}$-theory has a model whose accessibility relation is a linear order of order type $\omega$. We prove an effectivization of that theorem by means of a new construction adapted from that of Ganguli and Nerode.

math.LO↗

arXiv2017

Strong Reductions between Relatives of the Stable Ramsey's Theorem

A complete analysis is given of the computable reductions that hold between $\mathsf{SRT}^2_2$, $\mathsf{SPT}^2_2$, and $\mathsf{SIPT}^2_2$. In particular, while $\mathsf{D}^2_2\le_{\rm sW}\mathsf{SIPT}^2_2\le_{\rm sW}\mathsf{SPT}^2_2\le_{\rm sW}\mathsf{SRT}^2_2$, it is shown that $\mathsf{SRT}^2_2\not\le_{\rm sc}\mathsf{SPT}^2_2\not\le_{\rm sc}\mathsf{SIPT}^2_2\not\le_{\rm sc}\mathsf{D}^2_2$.

math.LO↗

arXiv2015

Neuroreceptor Activation by Vibration-Assisted Tunneling

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) constitute a large family of receptor proteins that sense molecular signals on the exterior of a cell and activate signal transduction pathways within the cell. Modeling how an agonist activates such a receptor is fundamental for an understanding of a wide variety of physiological processes and it is of tremendous value for pharmacology and drug design. Inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (IETS) has been proposed as a model for the mechanism by which olfactory GPCRs are activated by a bound agonist. We apply this hypothesis to GPCRs within the mammalian nervous system using quantum chemical modeling. We found that non-endogenous agonists of the serotonin receptor share a particular IET spectral aspect both amongst each other and with the serotonin molecule: a peak whose intensity scales with the known agonist potencies. We propose an experiential validation of this model by utilizing lysergic acid dimethylamide (DAM-57), an ergot derivative, and its deuterated isotopologues; we also provide theoretical predictions for comparison to experiment. If validated our theory may provide new avenues for guided drug design and elevate methods of in silico potency/activity prediction.

physics.bio-ph↗