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Marc Favata

Publications and source records attributed to Marc Favata.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Inferring host environment properties and gravitational-wave decay time from the eccentricity measurement of dynamically captured binaries

Dynamical capture in dense stellar environments is a promising channel for producing eccentric compact binary mergers. Although there have been no confident detections of eccentric mergers to date, a few candidates show indications of non-negligible in-band eccentricity upon re-analysis of the data. By assuming an observed eccentric event originates from a dynamical gravitational wave (GW) capture, we show that it is possible to identify the host environment using the eccentricity and mass posteriors. In particular, the eccentricity posterior can be mapped to posteriors on key capture parameters, such as the relative velocity at infinity and the impact parameter. By comparing these with the expected velocity distributions of different astrophysical environments, we can place constraints on the likely host. Assuming that it originated from a GW capture, we applied this framework to the neutron star-black hole merger GW200105. By comparing with the velocity dispersion distributions of neutron stars in the cores of globular clusters (GCs) and nuclear star clusters (NSCs), we find the probability that GW200105 merged in a GC (NSC) to be 29% (71%). As we anticipate detecting several eccentric mergers in the future, this method can provide a valuable astrophysical diagnostic of their host environments on a single-event basis; this can be straightforwardly generalized to a population of eccentric binaries. The formalism we develop is also applied to GW190521, but is less constraining for that event. Lastly, we infer a GW decay time from capture to merger of 11-156 days for GW200105.

astro-ph.HE

The Gravitational Wave Memory from Binary Neutron Star Mergers

The gravitational wave signal produced by the merger of two compact objects includes both an oscillatory transient and a non-oscillatory part, the so-called memory effect. This produces a permanent displacement of test masses and has not yet been measured. We use general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations, including neutrinos, with several representative viable equations of state, to quantify--for the first time--the effects of the neutron star magnetic field, neutrino emission, and the ejected mass on the linear and nonlinear displacement memory in binary neutron star mergers. We find that the additional contributions due to the emission of electromagnetic radiation, neutrinos and baryonic ejecta can be ~15% of the total memory for moderate magnetic fields and up to ~50% for extreme magnetic fields. The memory is most affected by changes in the equation of state, the binary mass, and the magnetic field. In particular, for moderate premerger field strengths, the dominant impact of the electromagnetic field is the change in the gravitational wave luminosity, and the associated gravitational wave null memory, due to the unstable growth of the magnetic field and the resulting redistribution of angular momentum it induces in the remnant. While the direct electromagnetic contribution to the null memory is additive, the change in the gravitational wave null memory can--in some cases--result in the total memory being smaller than that from the corresponding nonmagnetized binary. Furthermore, in contrast to binary black hole mergers, the growth of the memory in binary neutron star mergers is extended due to the long emission timescale of electromagnetic fields, neutrinos, and ejecta. These results necessitate the consideration of the magnetic field, as well as the equation of state, for accurate parameter estimation in future analyses of gravitational wave memory data.

gr-qc

Possible binary neutron star merger history of the primary of GW230529

Black holes (BHs) with masses between $\sim 3-5M_{\odot}$, produced by a binary neutron star (BNS) merger, can further pair up with a neutron star or BH and merge again within a Hubble time. However, the astrophysical environments in which this can happen and the rate of such mergers are open questions in astrophysics. Gravitational waves may play an important role in answering these questions. In this context, we discuss the possibility that the primary of the recent LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA binary GW230529_181500 (GW230529, in short) is the product of a previous BNS merger. Invoking numerical relativity (NR)-based fitting formulas that map the binary constituents' masses and tidal deformabilities to the mass, spin, and kick velocity of the remnant BH, we investigate the potential parents of GW230529's primary. Our calculations using NR fits based on BNS simulations reveal that the remnant of a high-mass BNS merger similar to GW190425 is consistent with the primary of GW230529. This argument is further strengthened by the gravitational wave-based merger rate estimation of GW190425-like and GW230529-like populations. We show that around 18% (median) of the GW190425-like remnants could become the primary component in GW230529-like mergers. The dimensionless tidal deformability parameter of the heavier neutron star in the parent binary is constrained to $67^{+163}_{-61}$ at 90% credibility. Using estimates of the gravitational-wave kick imparted to the remnant, we also discuss the astrophysical environments in which these types of mergers can take place and the implications for their future observations.

astro-ph.HE

Parametrized tests of general relativity using eccentric compact binaries

Astrophysical population simulations predict that a subset of dynamically formed binary black holes (BBHs) may possess eccentricity $\gtrsim 0.1$ at a gravitational wave (GW) frequency of $10 \,\text{Hz}$. Presently, the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration tests general relativity (GR) assuming that the binary eccentricity has decayed well before it enters the detector's frequency band. Previous works have shown that binary eccentricity can bias GR tests if unaccounted for. Here we develop two methods to extend parametrized tests of GR to eccentric binaries. The first method extends the standard null parametrized test for quasicircular binaries by adding fractional deviations at each post-Newtonian (PN) order in the eccentric part of the GW phasing (assuming the small-eccentricity limit). Simultaneous measurement of the circular and eccentric deviation parameters ($\delta\hat{\varphi}, \delta\hat{\varphi}^e$) allows us to constrain deviations from GR for eccentric binaries. While strong constraints on the deviation parameters are not achievable with LIGO's projected sensitivity, the multibanding of LISA and CE observations can constrain these deviations to $|\delta\hat{\varphi}_2| \lesssim 3 \times 10^{-3}$ and $|\delta\hat{\varphi}^e_2|\lesssim 2\times 10^{-2}$. The second method looks for GR deviations in the rate of periastron advance ($\Delta\alpha$). The parameter $\Delta\alpha$ ($\Delta\alpha^{\rm GR} \to 0$) can be constrained with LIGO to $|\Delta\alpha|\lesssim 4 \times 10^{-2}$ (with $1 \sigma$ confidence). Multiband sources observed by LISA and CE provide an improved constraint of $|\Delta\alpha|\lesssim 3\times 10^{-5}$. The space-based detector DECIGO provides the best constraint on $\Delta\alpha$ with $|\Delta\alpha|\lesssim 8 \times 10^{-6}$.

gr-qc

Reconstructing the Genealogy of LIGO-Virgo Black Holes

We propose a Bayesian inference framework to predict the merger history of LIGO-Virgo binary black holes (BHs), whose binary components may have undergone hierarchical mergers in the past. The framework relies on numerical relativity predictions for the mass, spin, and kick velocity of the remnant BHs. This proposed framework computes the masses, spins, and kicks imparted to the remnant of the parent binaries, given the initial masses and spin magnitudes of the binary constituents. We validate our approach by performing an ``injection study'' based on a constructed sequence of hierarchically formed binaries. Noise is added to the final binary in the sequence, and the parameters of the `parent' and `grandparent' binaries in the merger chain are then reconstructed. This method is then applied to three GWTC-3 events: GW190521, GW200220_061928, and GW190426_190642. These events were selected because at least one of the binary companions lies in the putative pair-instability supernova mass gap, in which stellar processes alone cannot produce BHs. Hierarchical mergers offer a natural explanation for the formation of BHs in the pair-instability mass gap. We use the backward evolution framework to predict the parameters of the parents of the primary companion of these three binaries. For instance, the parent binary of GW190521 has masses $72_{-22}^{+32}M_{\odot}$ and $31_{-23}^{+24}M_{\odot}$ within the 90% credible interval. Astrophysical environments with escape speeds $\geq100{\rm \, km \, s^{-1}}$ are preferred sites to host these events. Our approach can be readily applied to future high-mass gravitational wave events to predict their formation history under the hierarchical merger assumption.

astro-ph.HE

Eccentricity-induced systematic error on parametrized tests of general relativity: Hierarchical Bayesian inference applied to a binary black hole population

One approach to testing general relativity (GR) introduces free parameters in the post-Newtonian (PN) expansion of the gravitational-wave (GW) phase. If systematic errors on these testing GR (TGR) parameters exceed the statistical errors, this may signal a false violation of GR. Here, we consider systematic errors produced by unmodeled binary eccentricity. Since the eccentricity of GW events in ground-based detectors is expected to be small or negligible, the use of quasicircular waveform models for testing GR may be safe when analyzing a small number of events. However, as the catalog size of GW detections increases, more stringent bounds on GR deviations can be placed by combining information from multiple events. In that case, even small systematic biases may become significant. We apply the approach of hierarchical Bayesian inference to model the posterior probability distributions of the TGR parameters inferred from a population of eccentric binary black holes (BBHs). We assume each TGR parameter value varies across the BBH population according to a Gaussian distribution. We compute the posterior distributions for these Gaussian hyperparameters. This is done for LIGO and Cosmic Explorer (CE). We find that systematic biases from unmodeled eccentricity can signal false GR violations for both detectors when considering constraints set by a catalog of events. We also compute the projected bounds on the $10$ TGR parameters when eccentricity is included as a parameter in the waveform model. We find that the first four dimensionless TGR deformation parameters can be bounded at $90\%$ confidence to $\delta \hat{\varphi}_i \lesssim 10^{-2}$ for LIGO and $\lesssim 10^{-3}$ for CE [where $i=(0,1,2,3)$]. In comparison to the circular orbit case, the combined bounds on the TGR parameters worsen by a modest factor of $\lesssim 2$ when eccentricity is included in the waveform.

gr-qc

Testing general relativity via direct measurement of black hole kicks

Asymmetric emission of gravitational waves during a compact binary coalescence results in the loss of linear momentum and a corresponding "kick" or recoil on the binary's center of mass. This leads to a direction-dependent Doppler shift of the ringdown gravitational waveform. We quantify the measurability of the kick imparted to the remnant black hole in a binary black hole merger. Future ground- and space-based gravitational-wave detectors will measure this effect to within $\sim 2\%$ to $\sim 30\%$ for a subset of their expected observed sources. Certain binary configurations in the LISA band may allow a sub-percent-level measurement of this effect. This direct measurement of black hole kicks can also facilitate a novel test of general relativity based on linear momentum balance. We formulate this kick consistency test via measurement of a null variable that quantifies the difference between the inferred kick (using numerical relativity) and that observed via the Doppler-shifted ringdown signal. This null variable can be constrained (at 90\% confidence) to $\sim 10\%$ to $30\%$ with Cosmic Explorer and to $\sim 3\%$ to $12\%$ with LISA.

gr-qc

Predictions of a simple parametric model of hierarchical black hole mergers

Hierarchical mergers of black holes are proposed as a mechanism to explain the observations of binary black holes with component masses between $\sim 50M_{\odot}\hbox{--}130M_{\odot}$ by LIGO/Virgo, often referred to as "upper mass gap". We study the efficiency with which hierarchical mergers can produce higher and higher masses using a simple model of the forward evolution of binary black hole populations in gravitationally bound systems like stellar clusters. The model relies on pairing probability and initial mass functions for the black hole population, along with numerical relativity fitting formulas for the mass, spin, and kick speed of the merger remnant. We carry out an extensive comparison of the predictions of our model with clusterBHBdynamics (cBHBd) model, a fast method for the evolution of star clusters and black holes therein. For this comparison, we consider three different pairing functions of black holes and consider simulations from high- and low-metallicity cluster environments from cBHBd. We find good agreements between our model and the cBHBd results when the pairing probability of binaries depends on both total mass and mass ratio. We also assess the efficiency of hierarchical mergers as a function of merger generation and derive the mass distribution of black holes using our model. We find that the multi-modal features in the observed binary black hole mass spectrum -- revealed by the non-parametric population models -- can be interpreted by invoking the hierarchical merger scenario in dense, metal-rich, stellar environments. Further, the two subdominant peaks in the GWTC-3 component mass spectrum are consistent with second and third-generation mergers in metal-rich, dense environments. With more binary black hole detections, our model could be used to infer the black hole initial mass function and pairing probability exponent.

astro-ph.HE

Systematic bias on the inspiral-merger-ringdown consistency test due to neglect of orbital eccentricity

The inspiral-merger-ringdown (IMR) consistency test checks the consistency of the final mass and final spin of a binary black hole merger remnant, independently inferred via the inspiral and merger-ringdown parts of the waveform. As binaries are expected to be nearly circularized when entering the frequency band of ground-based detectors, tests of general relativity (GR) currently employ quasicircular waveforms. We quantify the effect of residual orbital eccentricity on the IMR consistency test. We find that eccentricity causes a significant systematic bias in the inferred final mass and spin of the remnant black hole at an orbital eccentricity (defined at $10$ Hz) of $e_0 \gtrsim 0.1$ in the LIGO band (for a total binary mass in the range $65$-$200 \,M_{\odot}$). For binary black holes observed by Cosmic Explorer (CE), the systematic bias becomes significant for $e_0 \gtrsim 0.015$ (for $200$-$600 \,M_{\odot}$ systems). This eccentricity-induced bias on the final mass and spin leads to an apparent inconsistency in the IMR consistency test, manifesting as a false violation of GR. Hence, eccentric corrections to waveform models are important for constructing a robust test of GR, especially for third-generation detectors. We also estimate the eccentric corrections to the relationship between the inspiral parameters and the final mass and final spin; they are shown to be quite small.

gr-qc

Systematic bias on parameterized tests of general relativity due to neglect of orbital eccentricity

Gravitational-wave observations provide a unique opportunity to test general relativity (GR) in the strong-field and highly dynamical regime of the theory. Parametrized tests of GR are one well-known approach for quantifying violations of GR. This approach constrains deviations in the coefficients of the post-Newtonian phasing formula, which describes the gravitational-wave phase evolution of a compact binary as it inspirals. Current bounds from this test using LIGO/Virgo observations assume that binaries are circularized by the time they enter the detector frequency band. Here, we investigate the impact of residual binary eccentricity on the parametrized tests. We study the systematic biases in the parameter bounds when a phasing based on the circular orbit assumption is employed for a system that has some small residual eccentricity. We find that a systematic bias (for example, on the leading Newtonian deformation parameter) becomes comparable to the statistical errors for even moderate eccentricities of $\sim 0.04$ at $10$ Hz in LIGO/Virgo band for binary black holes, and $\sim 0.008$ for binary neutron stars. This happens at even lower values of orbital eccentricity in the frequency band of third-generation (3G) detectors like Cosmic Explorer ($\sim 0.005$ at $10$ Hz for binary black holes and $\sim 0.002$ for binary neutron stars). These results demonstrate that incorporating physical effects like eccentricity in waveform models is important for accurately extracting science results from future detectors.

gr-qc

Constraining the orbital eccentricity of inspiralling compact binary systems with Advanced LIGO

The detection of ~50 coalescing compact binaries with the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors has allowed us to test general relativity, constrain merger rates, and look for evidence of tidal effects, compact object spins, higher waveform modes, and black hole ringdowns. An effect that has not yet been confidently detected is binary eccentricity, which might be present in a small fraction of binaries formed dynamically. Here we discuss general limits on eccentricity that can, in-principle, be placed on all types of compact object binaries by a detector operating at the design sensitivity of Advanced LIGO. Using a post-Newtonian model for gravitational-wave phasing valid in the small eccentricity regime, we assess the relative measurement error for eccentricity for a variety of spinning and non-spinning binaries. Errors and correlations involving the mass and spin parameters are also investigated. We find that decreasing the low frequency limit of a detector's observational frequency band is one of the key design factors for increasing the odds of measuring binary eccentricity. We also introduce and analytically explore the eccentric chirp mass parameter, which replaces the chirp mass as the key measurable parameter combination in eccentric gravitational waveform models. The eccentric chirp mass parameter explains a degeneracy between the chirp mass and the eccentricity. This degeneracy leads to a bias in the standard chirp mass parameter. We also investigate the systematic parameter bias that arises when eccentric systems are recovered using circular waveform templates. We use both Fisher matrix and Bayesian-inference-based Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods to investigate these parameter estimation issues, and we find good agreement between the two approaches (for both statistical and systematic errors) in the appropriate signal-to-noise ratio regime. (abridged)

gr-qc

Remnant Black Hole Kicks and Implications for Hierarchical Mergers

When binary black holes merge in dense star clusters, their remnants can pair up with other black holes in the cluster, forming heavier and heavier black holes in a process called hierarchical merger. The most important condition for hierarchical merger to occur is that remnants formed by mergers are retained by the host star cluster. Using the publicly available gravitational-wave event database, we infer the magnitudes of kick velocities imparted to the remnant black holes due to anisotropic emission of gravitational waves and use that to quantify the retention probability of each event as a function of the escape speed of the star cluster. Among the second gravitational-wave transient catalog (GWTC-2) events, GW190814 provides the tightest constraint on the kick magnitude with ${\rm V_{kick}}=74_{-7}^{+10}$ km/s at the 90% credible level. We find that star clusters with escape speeds of 200 km/s can retain about 50% of the events in the GWTC-2. Using the escape speed distributions of nuclear star clusters and globular clusters, we find that $\sim 17$ (2) remnants of GWTC-2 may be retained by the host star cluster if all GWTC-2 events occurred in nuclear (globular) clusters. Our study demonstrates the importance of folding in kick velocity inferences in future studies of hierarchical mergers.

astro-ph.HE

Gravitational-wave phasing for low-eccentricity inspiralling compact binaries to 3PN order

[abridged] Although gravitational radiation causes inspiralling compact binaries to circularize, a variety of astrophysical scenarios suggest that binaries might have small but nonnegligible orbital eccentricities when they enter the low-frequency bands of ground and space-based gravitational-wave detectors. If not accounted for, even a small orbital eccentricity can cause a potentially significant systematic error in the mass parameters of an inspiralling binary. Gravitational-wave search templates typically rely on the quasi-circular approximation, which provides relatively simple expressions for the gravitational-wave phase to 3.5 post-Newtonian (PN) order. The quasi-Keplerian formalism provides an elegant but complex description of the post-Newtonian corrections to the orbits and waveforms of inspiralling binaries with any eccentricity. Here we specialize the quasi-Keplerian formalism to binaries with low eccentricity. In this limit the non-periodic contribution to the gravitational-wave phasing can be expressed explicitly as simple functions of frequency or time, with little additional complexity beyond the well-known formulas for circular binaries. These eccentric phase corrections are computed to 3PN order and to leading order in the eccentricity for the standard PN approximants. For a variety of systems these eccentricity corrections cause significant corrections to the number of gravitational wave cycles that sweep through a detector's frequency band. This is evaluated using several measures, including a modification of the useful cycles. We also evaluate the role of periodic terms that enter the phasing and discuss how they can be incorporated into some of the PN approximants. While the eccentric extension of the PN approximants is our main objective, this work collects a variety of results that may be of interest to others modeling eccentric relativistic binaries.

gr-qc

Systematic parameter errors in inspiraling neutron star binaries

The coalescence of two neutron stars is an important gravitational wave source for LIGO and other detectors. Numerous studies have considered the precision with which binary parameters (masses, spins, Love numbers) can be measured. Here I consider the accuracy with which these parameters can be determined in the presence of systematic errors due to waveform approximations. These approximations include truncation of the post-Newtonian (PN) series and neglect of neutron star (NS) spin, tidal deformation, or orbital eccentricity. All of these effects can yield systematic errors that exceed statistical errors for plausible parameter values. In particular, neglecting spin, eccentricity, or high-order PN terms causes a significant bias in the NS Love number. Tidal effects will not be measurable with PN inspiral waveforms if these systematic errors are not controlled.

gr-qc

The Transient Gravitational-Wave Sky

Interferometric detectors will very soon give us an unprecedented view of the gravitational-wave sky, and in particular of the explosive and transient Universe. Now is the time to challenge our theoretical understanding of short-duration gravitational-wave signatures from cataclysmic events, their connection to more traditional electromagnetic and particle astrophysics, and the data analysis techniques that will make the observations a reality. This paper summarizes the state of the art, future science opportunities, and current challenges in understanding gravitational-wave transients.

gr-qc

The gravitational-wave memory from eccentric binaries

The nonlinear gravitational-wave memory causes a time-varying but nonoscillatory correction to the gravitational-wave polarizations. It arises from gravitational waves that are sourced by gravitational waves. Previous considerations of the nonlinear memory effect have focused on quasicircular binaries. Here, I consider the nonlinear memory from Newtonian orbits with arbitrary eccentricity. Expressions for the waveform polarizations and spin-weighted spherical-harmonic modes are derived for elliptic, hyperbolic, parabolic, and radial orbits. In the hyperbolic, parabolic, and radial cases the nonlinear memory provides a 2.5 post-Newtonian (PN) correction to the leading-order waveforms. This is in contrast to the elliptical and quasicircular cases, where the nonlinear memory corrects the waveform at leading (0PN) order. This difference in PN order arises from the fact that the memory builds up over a short "scattering" time scale in the hyperbolic case, as opposed to a much longer radiation-reaction time scale in the elliptical case. The nonlinear memory corrections presented here complete our knowledge of the leading-order (Peters-Mathews) waveforms for elliptical orbits. These calculations are also relevant for binaries with quasicircular orbits in the present epoch which had, in the past, large eccentricities. Because the nonlinear memory depends sensitively on the past evolution of a binary, I discuss the effect of this early-time eccentricity on the value of the late-time memory in nearly circularized binaries. I also discuss the observability of large "memory jumps" in a binary's past that could arise from its formation in a capture process. Lastly, I provide estimates of the signal-to-noise ratio of the linear and nonlinear memories from hyperbolic and parabolic binaries.

gr-qc

Conservative self-force correction to the innermost stable circular orbit: comparison with multiple post-Newtonian-based methods

[abridged] Barack & Sago have recently computed the shift of the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) due to the conservative self-force that arises from the finite-mass of an orbiting test-particle. This is one of the first concrete results of the self-force program, and provides an exact point of comparison with approximate post-Newtonian (PN) computations of the ISCO. Here this exact ISCO shift is compared with nearly all known PN-based methods. These include both "nonresummed" and "resummed" approaches (the latter reproduce the test-particle limit by construction). The best agreement with the exact result is found from effective-one-body (EOB) calculations that are fit to numerical relativity simulations. However, if one considers uncalibrated methods based only on the currently known 3PN-order conservative dynamics, the best agreement is found from the gauge-invariant ISCO condition of Blanchet and Iyer (2003). This method reproduces the exact test-particle limit without any resummation. A comparison of PN methods with the equal-mass ISCO is also performed. The results of this study suggest that the EOB approach---while exactly incorporating the conservative test-particle dynamics---does not (in the absence of calibration) incorporate conservative self-force effects more accurately than standard PN methods. I also consider how the conservative self-force ISCO shift, combined with numerical relativity computations of the ISCO, can be used to constrain our knowledge of (1) the EOB effective metric, (2) phenomenological inspiral-merger-ringdown templates, and (3) 4PN and 5PN order terms in the PN orbital energy. These constraints could help in constructing better gravitational-wave templates. Lastly, I suggest a new method to calibrate unknown PN-terms in inspiral templates using numerical-relativity calculations.

gr-qc

Conservative corrections to the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) of a Kerr black hole: a new gauge-invariant post-Newtonian ISCO condition, and the ISCO shift due to test-particle spin and the gravitational self-force

The innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) delimits the transition from circular orbits to those that plunge into a black hole. In the test-mass limit, well-defined ISCO conditions exist for the Kerr and Schwarzschild spacetimes. In the finite-mass case, there are a large variety of ways to define an ISCO in a post-Newtonian (PN) context. Here I generalize the gauge-invariant ISCO condition of Blanchet & Iyer (2003) to the case of spinning (nonprecessing) binaries. The Blanchet-Iyer ISCO condition has two desirable and unexpected properties: (1) it exactly reproduces the Schwarzschild ISCO in the test-mass limit, and (2) it accurately approximates the recently-calculated shift in the Schwarzschild ISCO frequency due to the conservative-piece of the gravitational self-force [Barack & Sago (2009)]. The generalization of this ISCO condition to spinning binaries has the property that it also exactly reproduces the Kerr ISCO in the test-mass limit (up to the order at which PN spin corrections are currently known). The shift in the ISCO due to the spin of the test-particle is also calculated. Remarkably, the gauge-invariant PN ISCO condition exactly reproduces the ISCO shift predicted by the Papapetrou equations for a fully-relativistic spinning particle. It is surprising that an analysis of the stability of the standard PN equations of motion is able (without any form of "resummation") to accurately describe strong-field effects of the Kerr spacetime. The ISCO frequency shift due to the conservative self-force in Kerr is also calculated from this new ISCO condition, as well as from the effective-one-body Hamiltonian of Barausse & Buonanno (2010). These results serve as a useful point-of-comparison for future gravitational self-force calculations in the Kerr spacetime.

gr-qc