arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Riccardo Sturani.
We give an overview about the recent detection of gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO first and second observing runs and by Advanced Virgo, with emphasis on the prospects for multi-messenger astronomy involving neutrino detections.
Working within the post-Newtonian (PN) approximation to General Relativity, we use the effective field theory (EFT) framework to study the conservative dynamics of the two-body motion at fourth PN order, at fifth order in the Newton constant. This is one of the missing pieces preventing the computation of the full Lagrangian at fourth PN order using EFT methods. We exploit the analogy between diagrams in the EFT gravitational theory and 2-point functions in massless gauge theory, to address the calculation of 4-loop amplitudes by means of standard multi-loop diagrammatic techniques. For those terms which can be directly compared, our result confirms the findings of previous studies, performed using different methods.
The era of gravitational-wave astronomy has started with the discovery of the binary black hole coalescences (BBH) GW150914 and GW151226 by the LIGO instruments. These systems allowed for the first direct measurement of masses and spins of black holes. The component masses in each of the systems have been estimated with uncertainties of over 10\%, with only weak constraints on the spin magnitude and orientation. In this paper we show how these uncertainties will be typical for this type of source when using advanced detectors. Focusing in particular on heavy BBH of masses similar to GW150914, we find that typical uncertainties in the estimation of the source-frame component masses will be around 40\%. We also find that for most events the magnitude of the component spins will be estimated poorly: for only 10\% of the systems the uncertainties in the spin magnitude of the primary (secondary) BH will be below 0.7 (0.8). Conversely, the effective spin along the angular momentum can be estimated more precisely than either spins, with uncertainties below 0.16 for 10\% of the systems. We also quantify how often large or negligible primary spins can be excluded, and how often the sign of the effective spin can be measured. We show how the angle between the spin and the orbital angular momentum can only seldom be measured with uncertainties below 60$^\circ$. We then investigate how the measurement of spin parameters depends on the inclination angle and the total mass of the source. We find that when precession is present, uncertainties are smaller for systems observed close to edge-on. Contrarily to what happens for low-mass, inspiral dominated, sources, for heavy BBH we find that large spins aligned with the orbital angular momentum can be measured with small uncertainty. We also show how spin uncertainties increase with the total mass. Finally...
Third generation ground-based interferometers as well as the planned space-based interferometer LISA are expected to detect a plethora of gravitational wave signals from coalescing binaries at cosmological distance. The emitted gravitational waves propagate in the expanding universe through the inhomogeneous distribution of matter. Here we show that the acceleration of the universe and the peculiar acceleration of the binary with respect to the observer distort the gravitational chirp signal from the simplest General Relativity prediction beyond a mere time independent rescaling of the chirp mass, affecting intrinsic parameter estimations for the binaries visible by LISA. We find that the effect due to the peculiar acceleration can be much larger than the one due to the universe acceleration. Moreover, peculiar accelerations can introduce a bias in the estimation of parameters such as the time of coalescence and the individual masses of the binary. An error in the estimation of the arrival time will have an impact in the case of sources visible first by LISA and later by ground based interferometers.
With the discovery of the binary black hole coalescence GW150914, the era of gravitational-wave astrophysics has started. Gravitational-wave signals emitted by compact binary coalescences will be detected in large number by LIGO and Virgo in the coming months and years. Much about compact binaries is still uncertain, including some key details about their formation channels. The two scenarios which are typically considered, common envelope evolution and dynamical capture, result in different distributions for the orientation of the black hole spins. In particular, common envelope evolution is expected to be highly efficient in aligning spins with the orbital angular momentum. In this paper we simulate catalogs of gravitational-wave signals in which a given fraction of events comes from common envelop evolution, and has spins nearly aligned with the orbital angular momentum. We show how the fraction of aligned systems can be accurately estimated using Bayesian parameter estimation, with 1 $σ$ uncertainties of the order of 10% after 100-200 sources are detected.
Compact binary coalescences are the most promising sources of gravitational waves (GWs) for ground based detectors. Binary systems containing one or two spinning black holes are particularly interesting due to spin-orbit (and eventual spin-spin) interactions, and the opportunity of measuring spins directly through GW observations. In this letter we analyze simulated signals emitted by spinning binaries with several values of masses, spins, orientation, and signal-to-noise ratio. We find that spin magnitudes and tilt angles can be estimated to accuracy of a few percent for neutron star--black hole systems and $\sim$ 5-30% for black hole binaries. In contrast, the difference in the azimuth angles of the spins, which may be used to check if spins are locked into resonant configurations, cannot be constrained. We observe that the best performances are obtained when the line of sight is perpendicular to the system's total angular momentum, and that a sudden change of behavior occurs when a system is observed from angles such that the plane of the orbit can be seen both from above and below during the time the signal is in band. This study suggests that the measurement of black hole spin by means of GWs can be as precise as what can be obtained from X-ray binaries.
In this short review we present a self-contained exposition of the effective field theory method approach to model the dynamics of gravitationally bound compact binary systems within the post-Newtonian approximation to General Relativity. Applications of this approach to the conservative sector, as well as to the radiation emission by the binary system are discussed in their salient features. Most important results are discussed in a pedagogical way, as in-depths and details can be found in the referenced papers.
We derive the conservative part of the Lagrangian and the energy of a gravitationally bound two-body system at fourth post-Newtonian order, up to terms quadratic in the Newton constant. We also show that such terms are compatible with Lorentz invariance and we write an ansatz for the center-of-mass position. The remaining terms carrying higher powers of the Newton constant are currently under investigation.
The gravitational wave signature from binary black hole coalescences is an important target for LIGO and VIRGO. The Numerical INJection Analysis (NINJA) project brought together the numerical relativity and gravitational wave data analysis communities, with the goal to optimize the detectability of these events. In its first instantiation, the NINJA project produced a simulated data set with numerical waveforms from binary black hole coalescences of various morphologies (spin, mass ratio, initial conditions), superimposed to Gaussian colored noise at the design sensitivity for initial LIGO and VIRGO. We analyzed this simulated data set with the Q-pipeline burst algorithm. This code, designed for the all-sky detection of gravitational wave bursts with minimal assumptions on the shape of the waveform, filters the data with a bank of sine-Gaussians, or sinusoids with Gaussian envelope. The algorithm's performance was compared to matched filtering with ring-down templates. The results are qualitatively consistent; however due to the low simulation statistics in the first NINJA project, it is premature to draw quantitative conclusions at this stage.
We apply the Effective Field Theory approach to General Relativity, introduced by Goldberger and Rothstein, to study point-like and string-like sources in the context of scalar-tensor theories of gravity. Within this framework we compute the classical energy-momentum tensor renormalization to first Post-Newtonian order or, in the case of extra scalar fields, up to first order in the (non-derivative) trilinear interaction terms: this allows to write down the corrections to the standard (Newtonian) gravitational potential and to the extra-scalar potential. In the case of one-dimensional extended sources we give an alternative derivation of the renormalization of the string tension enabling a re-analysis of the discrepancy between the results obtained by Dabholkar and Harvey in one paper and by Buonanno and Damour in another, already discussed in the latter.
We analyse the phenomenology of a self-interacting scalar field in the context of the chameleon scenario originally proposed by Khoury and Weltman. In the absence of self-interactions, this type of scalar field can mediate long range interactions and simultaneously evade constraints from violation of the weak equivalence principle. By applying to such a scalar field the effective field theory method proposed for Einstein gravity by Goldberger and Rothstein, we give a thorough perturbative evaluation of the importance of non-derivative self-interactions in determining the strength of the chameleon mediated force in the case of orbital motion. The self-interactions are potentially dangerous as they can change the long range behaviour of the field. Nevertheless, we show that they do not lead to any dramatic phenomenological consequence with respect to the linear case and solar system constraints are fulfilled.
Using a formulation of the post-Newtonian expansion in terms of Feynman graphs, we discuss how various tests of General Relativity (GR) can be translated into measurement of the three- and four-graviton vertices. In problems involving only the conservative dynamics of a system, a deviation of the three-graviton vertex from the GR prediction is equivalent, to lowest order, to the introduction of the parameter beta_{PPN} in the parametrized post-Newtonian formalism, and its strongest bound comes from lunar laser ranging, which measures it at the 0.02% level. Deviation of the three-graviton vertex from the GR prediction, however, also affects the radiative sector of the theory. We show that the timing of the Hulse-Taylor binary pulsar provides a bound on the deviation of the three-graviton vertex from the GR prediction at the 0.1% level. For coalescing binaries at interferometers we find that, because of degeneracies with other parameters in the template such as mass and spin, the effects of modified three- and four-graviton vertices is just to induce an error in the determination of these parameters and, at least in the restricted PN approximation, it is not possible to use coalescing binaries for constraining deviations of the vertices from the GR prediction.
We study the performance of a multidimensional matched filter as a follow-up module of the coherent method recently developed by two of us for the detection of gravitational wave bursts by spherical resonant detectors. We have tested this strategy on the same set of injections used for the coherent method and found that the matched filter sensibly improves the determination of relevant parameters as the arrival time, amplitude, central frequency and arrival direction of the signal. The matched filter also improves the false alarm rate, reducing it roughly by a factor of 3. The hierarchical structure of the whole analysis pipeline allows to obtain these results without a significant increase of the computation time.
The Numerical INJection Analysis (NINJA) project is a collaborative effort between members of the numerical relativity and gravitational-wave data analysis communities. The purpose of NINJA is to study the sensitivity of existing gravitational-wave search algorithms using numerically generated waveforms and to foster closer collaboration between the numerical relativity and data analysis communities. We describe the results of the first NINJA analysis which focused on gravitational waveforms from binary black hole coalescence. Ten numerical relativity groups contributed numerical data which were used to generate a set of gravitational-wave signals. These signals were injected into a simulated data set, designed to mimic the response of the Initial LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave detectors. Nine groups analysed this data using search and parameter-estimation pipelines. Matched filter algorithms, un-modelled-burst searches and Bayesian parameter-estimation and model-selection algorithms were applied to the data. We report the efficiency of these search methods in detecting the numerical waveforms and measuring their parameters. We describe preliminary comparisons between the different search methods and suggest improvements for future NINJA analyses.
The 2008 NRDA conference introduced the Numerical INJection Analysis project (NINJA), a new collaborative effort between the numerical relativity community and the data analysis community. NINJA focuses on modeling and searching for gravitational wave signatures from the coalescence of binary system of compact objects. We review the scope of this collaboration and the components of the first NINJA project, where numerical relativity groups shared waveforms and data analysis teams applied various techniques to detect them when embedded in colored Gaussian noise.
We have set up and tested a pipeline for processing the data from a spherical gravitational wave detector with six transducers. The algorithm exploits the multichannel capability of the system and provides a list of candidate events with their arrival direction. The analysis starts with the conversion of the six detector outputs into the scalar and the five quadrupolar modes of the sphere, which are proportional to the corresponding gravitational wave spherical components. Event triggers are then generated by an adaptation of the WaveBurst algorithm. Event validation and direction reconstruction are made by cross-checking two methods of different inspiration: geometrical (lowest eigenvalue) and probabilistic (maximum likelihood). The combination of the two methods is able to keep substantially unaltered the efficiency and can reduce drastically the detections of fake events (to less than ten per cent). We show a quantitative test of these ideas by simulating the operation of the resonant spherical detector miniGRAIL, whose planned sensitivity in its frequency band (few hundred Hertz's around 3 kHz) is comparable with the present LIGO one.
We present a new method of wavelet packet decomposition to be used in gravitational wave detection. An issue in wavelet analysis is what is the time-frequency resolution which is best suited to analyze data when in quest of a signal of unknown shape, like a burst. In the other wavelet methods currently employed, like LIGO WaveBurst, the analysis is performed at some trial resolutions. We propose a decomposition which automatically selects at any frequency the best resolution. The criterion for resolution selection is based on minimization of a function of the data, named entropy in analogy with the information theory. As a qualitative application we show how a multiresolution time-frequency scalogram looks in the case of a sample signal injected over Gaussian noise. For a more quantitative application of the method we tested its efficiency as a non-linear filter of simulated data for burst searches, finding that it is able to lower the false alarm rate of the WaveBurst algorithm with negligible effects on the efficiency.
The problem of motion in General Relativity has lost its academic status and become an active research area since the next generation of gravity wave detectors will rely upon its solution. Here we will show, within scalar gravity, how ideas borrowed from Quantum Field Theory can be used to solve the problem of motion in a systematic fashion. We will concentrate in Post-Newtonian corrections. We will calculate the Einstein-Infeld-Hoffmann action and show how a systematic perturbative expansion puts strong constraints on the couplings of non-derivative interactions in the theory.