arXiv subjects

Manuela Campanelli

Publications and source records attributed to Manuela Campanelli.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Mass-ratio and Magnetic Flux-Dependence of Modulated Accretion from Circumbinary Disks

Accreting supermassive binary black holes (SMBBHs) are potential multi-messenger sources because they emit both gravitational wave and electromagnetic (EM) radiation. Past work has shown that their EM output may be periodically modulated by an asymmetric density distribution in the circumbinary disk, often called an "overdensity" or "lump;" this modulation could possibly be used to identify a source as a binary. We explore the sensitivity of the overdensity to SMBBH mass ratio and magnetic flux through the accretion disk. We find that the relative amplitude of the overdensity and its associated EM periodic signal both degrade with diminishing mass ratio, vanishing altogether somewhere between 1:2 and 1:5. Greater magnetization also weakens the lump and any modulation of the light output. We develop a model to describe how lump formation results from internal stress degrading faster in the lump region than it can be rejuvenated through accretion inflow, and predicts a threshold value in specific internal stress below which lump formation should occur and which all our lump-forming simulations satisfy. Thus, detection of such a modulation would provide a constraint on both mass-ratio and magnetic flux piercing the accretion flow.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Numerical relativity in spherical coordinates: A new dynamical spacetime and general relativistic MHD evolution framework for the Einstein Toolkit

We present SphericalNR, a new framework for the publicly available Einstein Toolkit that numerically solves the Einstein field equations coupled to the equations of general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) in a 3+1 split of spacetime in spherical coordinates without symmetry assumptions. The spacetime evolution is performed using reference-metric versions of either the Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura equations or the fully covariant and conformal Z4 system with constraint damping. We have developed a reference-metric version of the Valencia formulation of GRMHD with a vector potential method, guaranteeing the absence of magnetic monopoles during the evolution. In our framework, every dynamical field (both spacetime and matter) is evolved using its components in an orthonormal basis with respect to the spherical reference-metric. Furthermore, all geometric information about the spherical coordinate system is encoded in source terms appearing in the evolution equations. This allows for the straightforward extension of Cartesian high-resolution shock-capturing finite volume codes to use spherical coordinates with our framework. To this end, we have adapted GRHydro, a Cartesian finite volume GRMHD code already available in the Einstein Toolkit, to use spherical coordinates. We present the full evolution equations of the framework, as well as details of its implementation in the Einstein Toolkit. We validate SphericalNR by demonstrating it passes a variety of challenging code tests in static and dynamical spacetimes.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

PatchworkWave: A Multipatch Infrastructure for Multiphysics/Multiscale/Multiframe/Multimethod Simulations at Arbitrary Order

We present an extension of the PatchworkMHD code [1], itself an MHD-capable extension of the Patchwork code [2], for which several algorithms presented here were co-developed. Its purpose is to create a multipatch scheme compatible with numerical simulations of arbitrary equations of motion at any discretization order in space and time. In the Patchwork framework, the global simulation is comprised of an arbitrary number of moving, local meshes, or patches, which are free to employ their own resolution, coordinate system/topology, physics equations, reference frame, and in our new approach, numerical method. Each local patch exchanges boundary data with a single global patch on which all other patches reside through a client-router-server parallelization model. In generalizing Patchwork to be compatible with arbitrary order time integration, PatchworkMHD and PatchworkWave have significantly improved the interpatch interpolation accuracy by removing an interpolation of interpolated data feedback present in the original Patchwork code. Furthermore, we extend Patchwork to be multimethod by allowing multiple state vectors to be updated simultaneously, with each state vector providing its own interpatch interpolation and transformation procedures. As such, our scheme is compatible with nearly any set of hyperbolic partial differential equations. We demonstrate our changes through the implementation of a scalar wave toy-model that is evolved on arbitrary, time dependent patch configurations at 4th order accuracy.

physics.comp-ph↗

arXiv2019

On the properties of the massive binary black hole merger GW170729

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.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Eccentric Binary Black Holes with Spin via the Direct Integration of the Post-Newtonian Equations of Motion

We integrate the third and a half post-Newtonian equations of motion for a fully generic binary black hole system, allowing both for non-circular orbits, and for one or both of the black holes to spin, in any orientation. Using the second post-Newtonian order expression beyond the leading order quadrupole formula, we study the gravitational waveforms produced from such systems. Our results are validated by comparing to Taylor T4 in the aligned-spin circular cases, and the additional effects and modulations introduced by the eccentricity and the spins are analyzed. We use the framework to evaluate the evolution of eccentricity, and trace its contributions to source terms corresponding to the different definitions. Finally, we discuss how this direct integration equations-of-motion code may be relevant to existing and upcoming gravitational wave detectors, showing fully generic, precessing, eccentric gravitational waveforms from a fiducial binary system with the orbital plane and spin precession, and the eccentricity reduction.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Quasi-Periodicity of Supermassive Binary Black Hole Accretion Approaching Merger

In this paper we continue the first ever study of magnetized mini-disks coupled to circumbinary accretion in a supermassive binary black hole (SMBBH) approaching merger reported in Bowen et al. 2018. We extend this simulation from 3 to 12 binary orbital periods. We find that relativistic SMBBH accretion acts as a resonant cavity, where quasi-periodic oscillations tied to the the frequency at which the black hole's orbital phase matches a non-linear $m=1$ density feature, or ``lump'', in the circumbinary accretion disk permeate the system. The rate of mass accretion onto each of the mini-disks around the black holes is modulated at the beat frequency between the binary frequency and the lump's mean orbital frequency, i.e., $Ω_{\rm beat} = Ω_{\rm bin} - \barΩ_{\rm lump}$, while the total mass accretion rate of this equal-mass binary is modulated at two different frequencies, $\gtrsim \barΩ_{\rm lump}$ and $\approx 2 Ω_{\rm beat}$. The instantaneous rotation rate of the lump itself is also modulated at two frequencies close to the modulation frequencies of the total accretion rate, $\barΩ_{\rm lump}$ and $2 Ω_{\rm beat}$. Because of the compact nature of the mini-disks in SMBBHs approaching merger, the inflow times within the mini-disks are comparable to the period on which their mass-supply varies, so that their masses---and the accretion rates they supply to their black holes---are strongly modulated at the same frequency. In essence, the azimuthal symmetry of the circumbinary disk is broken by the dynamics of orbits near a binary, and this $m=1$ asymmetry then drives quasi-periodic variation throughout the system, including both accretion and disk-feeding. In SMBBHs approaching merger, such time variability could introduce distinctive, increasingly rapid, fluctuations in their electromagnetic emission.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

The second RIT binary black hole simulations catalog and its application to gravitational waves parameter estimation

The RIT numerical relativity group is releasing the second public catalog of black-hole-binary waveforms \url{http://ccrg.rit.edu/~RITCatalog}. This release consists of 320 accurate simulations that include 46 precessing and 274 nonprecessing binary systems with mass ratios $q=m_1/m_2$ in the range $1/6\leq q\leq1$ and individual spins up to $s/m^2=0.95$. The new catalog contains search and ordering tools for the waveforms based on initial parameters of the binary, trajectory information, peak radiation, and final remnant black hole properties. The final black hole remnant properties provided here can be used to model the merger of black-hole binaries from its initial configurations. The waveforms are extrapolated to infinite observer location and can be used to independently interpret gravitational wave signals from laser interferometric detectors. As an application of this waveform catalog we reanalyze the signal of GW150914 implementing parameter estimation techniques that make use of only numerical waveforms without any reference to information from phenomenological models.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Electromagnetic Emission from Supermassive Binary Black Holes Approaching Merger

We present the first fully relativistic prediction of the electromagnetic emission from the surrounding gas of a supermassive binary black hole system approaching merger. Using a ray-tracing code to post-process data from a general relativistic 3-d MHD simulation, we generate images and spectra, and analyze the viewing angle dependence of the light emitted. When the accretion rate is relatively high, the circumbinary disk, accretion streams, and mini-disks combine to emit light in the UV/EUV bands. We posit a thermal Compton hard X-ray spectrum for coronal emission; at high accretion rates, it is almost entirely produced in the mini-disks, but at lower accretion rates it is the primary radiation mechanism in the mini-disks and accretion streams as well. Due to relativistic beaming and gravitational lensing, the angular distribution of the power radiated is strongly anisotropic, especially near the equatorial plane.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Numerical relativity in spherical coordinates with the Einstein Toolkit

Numerical relativity codes that do not make assumptions on spatial symmetries most commonly adopt Cartesian coordinates. While these coordinates have many attractive features, spherical coordinates are much better suited to take advantage of approximate symmetries in a number of astrophysical objects, including single stars, black holes and accretion disks. While the appearance of coordinate singularities often spoils numerical relativity simulations in spherical coordinates, especially in the absence of any symmetry assumptions, it has recently been demonstrated that these problems can be avoided if the coordinate singularities are handled analytically. This is possible with the help of a reference-metric version of the Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura formulation together with a proper rescaling of tensorial quantities. In this paper we report on an implementation of this formalism in the Einstein Toolkit. We adapt the Einstein Toolkit infrastructure, originally designed for Cartesian coordinates, to handle spherical coordinates, by providing appropriate boundary conditions at both inner and outer boundaries. We perform numerical simulations for a disturbed Kerr black hole, extract the gravitational wave signal, and demonstrate that the noise in these signals is orders of magnitude smaller when computed on spherical grids rather than Cartesian grids. With the public release of our new Einstein Toolkit thorns, our methods for numerical relativity in spherical coordinates will become available to the entire numerical relativity community.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Quasi-Periodic Behavior of Mini-Disks in Binary Black Holes Approaching Merger

We present the first magnetohydrodynamic simulation in which a circumbinary disk around a relativistic binary black hole feeds mass to individual accretion disks ("mini-disks") around each black hole. Mass flow through the accretion streams linking the circumbinary disk to the mini-disks is modulated quasi-periodically by the streams' interaction with a nonlinear $m=1$ density feature, or "lump", at the inner edge of the circumbinary disk: the stream supplying each mini-disk comes into phase with the lump at a frequency $0.74$ times the binary orbital frequency. Because the binary is relativistic, the tidal truncation radii of the mini-disks are not much larger than their innermost stable circular orbits; consequently, the mini-disks' inflow times are shorter than the conventional estimate and are comparable to the stream modulation period. As a result, the mini-disks are always in inflow disequilibrium, with their masses and spiral density wave structures responding to the stream's quasi-periodic modulation. The fluctuations in each mini-disk's mass are so large that as much as $75\%$ of the total mini-disk mass can be contained within a single mini-disk. Such quasi-periodic modulation of the mini-disk structure may introduce distinctive time-dependent features in the binary's electromagnetic emission.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Targeted numerical simulations of binary black holes for GW170104

In response to LIGO's observation of GW170104, we performed a series of full numerical simulations of binary black holes, each designed to replicate likely realizations of its dynamics and radiation. These simulations have been performed at multiple resolutions and with two independent techniques to solve Einstein's equations. For the nonprecessing and precessing simulations, we demonstrate the two techniques agree mode by mode, at a precision substantially in excess of statistical uncertainties in current LIGO's observations. Conversely, we demonstrate our full numerical solutions contain information which is not accurately captured with the approximate phenomenological models commonly used to infer compact binary parameters. To quantify the impact of these differences on parameter inference for GW170104 specifically, we compare the predictions of our simulations and these approximate models to LIGO's observations of GW170104.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

A Parameter Estimation Method that Directly Compares Gravitational Wave Observations to Numerical Relativity

We present and assess a Bayesian method to interpret gravitational wave signals from binary black holes. Our method directly compares gravitational wave data to numerical relativity simulations. This procedure bypasses approximations used in semi-analytical models for compact binary coalescence. In this work, we use only the full posterior parameter distribution for generic nonprecessing binaries, drawing inferences away from the set of NR simulations used, via interpolation of a single scalar quantity (the marginalized log-likelihood, $\ln {\cal L}$) evaluated by comparing data to nonprecessing binary black hole simulations. We also compare the data to generic simulations, and discuss the effectiveness of this procedure for generic sources. We specifically assess the impact of higher order modes, repeating our interpretation with both $l\le2$ as well as $l\le3$ harmonic modes. Using the $l\le3$ higher modes, we gain more information from the signal and can better constrain the parameters of the gravitational wave signal. We assess and quantify several sources of systematic error that our procedure could introduce, including simulation resolution and duration; most are negligible. We show through examples that our method can recover the parameters for equal mass, zero spin; GW150914-like; and unequal mass, precessing spin sources. Our study of this new parameter estimation method demonstrates we can quantify and understand the systematic and statistical error. This method allows us to use higher order modes from numerical relativity simulations to better constrain the black hole binary parameters.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

Modeling the Black hole Merger of QSO 3C 186

Recent detailed observations of the radio-loud quasar 3C 186 indicate the possibility that a supermassive recoiling black hole is moving away from the host galaxy at a speed of nearly 2100km/s. If this is the case, we can model the mass ratio and spins of the progenitor binary black hole using the results of numerical relativity simulations. We find that the black holes in the progenitor must have comparable masses with a mass ratio $q=m_1/m_2>1/4$ and the spin of the primary black hole must be $α_2=S_2/m_2^2>0.4$. The final remnant of the merger is bounded by $α_f>0.45$ and at least $4\%$ of the total mass of the binary system is radiated into gravitational waves. We consider four different pre-merger scenarios that further narrow those values. Assuming, for instance, a cold accretion driven merger model, we find that the binary had comparable masses with $q=0.70^{+0.29}_{-0.21}$ and the normalized spins of the larger and smaller black holes were $α_2=0.94^{+0.06}_{-0.22}$ and $α_1=0.95^{+0.05}_{-0.09}$. We can also estimate the final recoiling black hole spin $α_f=0.93^{+0.02}_{-0.03}$ and that the system radiated $9.6^{+0.8}_{-1.4}\%$ of its total mass, making the merger of those black holes the most energetic event ever observed.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

Relativistic Dynamics and Mass Exchange in Binary Black Hole Mini-Disks

We present the first exploration of relativistic gas dynamics in the immediate vicinity of binary black holes as the system inspirals close to merger in the gravitational radiation-driven regime. We focus on 2D hydrodynamical studies of comparable-mass, non-spinning systems. Relativistic effects alter the dynamics of gas in this environment in several ways. Because the gravitational potential between the two black holes becomes shallower than in the Newtonian regime, the mini-disks stretch toward the L1 point and the amount of gas passing back and forth between the mini-disks increases sharply with decreasing binary separation. This "sloshing" is quasi-periodically modulated at $2$ and $2.75$ times the binary orbital frequency, corresponding to timescales of hours to days for supermassive binary black holes. In addition, relativistic effects add an $m=1$ component to the tidally-driven spiral waves in the disks that are purely $m=2$ in Newtonian gravity; this component becomes dominant when the separation is $\lesssim 100$ gravitational radii. Both the sloshing and the spiral waves have the potential to create distinctive radiation features that may uniquely mark supermassive binary black holes in the relativistic regime.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

The RIT binary black hole simulations catalog

The RIT numerical relativity group is releasing a public catalog of black-hole-binary waveforms. The initial release of the catalog consists of 126 recent simulations that include precessing and non precessing systems with mass ratios $q=m_1/m_2$ in the range $1/6\leq q\leq1$. The catalog contains information about the initial data of the simulation, the waveforms extrapolated to infinity, as well as information about the peak luminosity and final remnant black hole properties. These waveforms can be used to independently interpret gravitational wave signals from laser interferometric detectors and

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Spinning, Precessing, Black Hole Binary Spacetime via Asymptotic Matching

We briefly discuss a method to construct a global, analytic, approximate spacetime for precessing, spinning binary black holes. The spacetime construction is broken into three parts: the inner zones are the spacetimes close to each black hole, and are approximated by perturbed Kerr solutions; the near zone is far from the two black holes, and described by the post-Newtonian metric; and finally the wave (far) zone, where retardation effects need to be taken into account, is well modeled by the post-Minkowskian metric. These individual spacetimes are then stitched together using asymptotic matching techniques to obtain a global solution that approximately satisfies the Einstein field equations. Precession effects are introduced by rotating the black hole spin direction according to the precessing equations of motion, in a way that is consistent with the global spacetime construction.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Modeling the source of GW150914 with targeted numerical-relativity simulations

In fall of 2015, the two LIGO detectors measured the gravitational wave signal GW150914, which originated from a pair of merging black holes. In the final 0.2 seconds (about 8 gravitational-wave cycles) before the amplitude reached its maximum, the observed signal swept up in amplitude and frequency, from 35 Hz to 150 Hz. The theoretical gravitational-wave signal for merging black holes, as predicted by general relativity, can be computed only by full numerical relativity, because analytic approximations fail near the time of merger. Moreover, the nearly-equal masses, moderate spins, and small number of orbits of GW150914 are especially straightforward and efficient to simulate with modern numerical-relativity codes. In this paper, we report the modeling of GW150914 with numerical-relativity simulations, using black-hole masses and spins consistent with those inferred from LIGO's measurement. In particular, we employ two independent numerical-relativity codes that use completely different analytical and numerical methods to model the same merging black holes and to compute the emitted gravitational waveform; we find excellent agreement between the waveforms produced by the two independent codes. These results demonstrate the validity, impact, and potential of current and future studies using rapid-response, targeted numerical-relativity simulations for better understanding gravitational-wave observations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2016

Inspiraling black-hole binary spacetimes: Challenges in transitioning from analytical to numerical techniques

We explore how a recently developed analytical black-hole binary spacetime can be extended using numerical simulations to go beyond the slow-inspiral phase. The analytic spacetime solves the Einstein field equations approximately, with the approximation error becoming progressively smaller the more separated the binary. To continue the spacetime beyond the slow-inspiral phase, we need to transition. Such a transition was previously explored at smaller separations. Here, we perform this transition at a separation of D=20M (large enough that the analytical metric is expected to be accurate), and evolve for six orbits. We find that small constraint violations can have large dynamical effects, but these can be removed by using a constraint-damping system like the conformal covariant formulation of the Z4 system. We find agreement between the subsequent numerical spacetime and the predictions of post-Newtonian theory for the waveform and inspiral rate that is within the post-Newtonian truncation error.

gr-qc↗