arXiv subjects

S. Armstrong

Publications and source records attributed to S. Armstrong.

47 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

GW250114: testing Hawking's area law and the Kerr nature of black holes

The gravitational-wave signal GW250114 was observed by the two LIGO detectors with a network matched-filter signal-to-noise ratio of 80. The signal was emitted by the coalescence of two black holes with near-equal masses $m_1 = 33.6^{+1.2}_{-0.8}\,M_\odot$ and $m_2 = 32.2^{+0.8}_{-1.3}\,M_\odot$, and small spins $χ_{1,2} \leq 0.26$ (90% credibility) and negligible eccentricity $e \leq 0.03$. Post-merger data excluding the peak region are consistent with the dominant quadrupolar $(\ell = |m| = 2)$ mode of a Kerr black hole and its first overtone. We constrain the modes' frequencies to $\pm 30\%$ of the Kerr spectrum, providing a test of the remnant's Kerr nature. We also examine Hawking's area law, also known as the second law of black hole mechanics, which states that the total area of the black hole event horizons cannot decrease with time. A range of analyses that exclude up to 5 of the strongest merger cycles confirm that the remnant area is larger than the sum of the initial areas to high credibility.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Upper Limits on the Isotropic Gravitational-Wave Background from the first part of LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA's fourth Observing Run

We present results from the search for an isotropic gravitational-wave background using Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo data from O1 through O4a, the first part of the fourth observing run. This background is the accumulated signal from unresolved sources throughout cosmic history and encodes information about the merger history of compact binaries throughout the Universe, as well as exotic physics and potentially primordial processes from the early cosmos. Our cross-correlation analysis reveals no statistically significant background signal, enabling us to constrain several theoretical scenarios. For compact binary coalescences which approximately follow a 2/3 power-law spectrum, we constrain the fractional energy density to $Ω_{\rm GW}(25{\rm Hz})\leq 2.0\times 10^{-9}$ (95% cred.), a factor of 1.7 improvement over previous results. Scale-invariant backgrounds are constrained to $Ω_{\rm GW}(25{\rm Hz})\leq 2.8\times 10^{-9}$, representing a 2.1x sensitivity gain. We also place new limits on gravity theories predicting non-standard polarization modes and confirm that terrestrial magnetic noise sources remain below detection threshold. Combining these spectral limits with population models for GWTC-4, the latest gravitational-wave event catalog, we find our constraints remain above predicted merger backgrounds but are approaching detectability. The joint analysis combining the background limits shown here with the GWTC-4 catalog enables improved inference of the binary black hole merger rate evolution across cosmic time. Employing GWTC-4 inference results and standard modeling choices, we estimate that the total background arising from compact binary coalescences is $Ω_{\rm CBC}(25{\rm Hz})={0.9^{+1.1}_{-0.5}\times 10^{-9}}$ at 90% confidence, where the largest contribution is due to binary black holes only, $Ω_{\rm BBH}(25{\rm Hz})=0.8^{+1.1}_{-0.5}\times 10^{-9}$.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

All-sky search for long-duration gravitational-wave transients in the first part of the fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Observing run

We present an all-sky search for long-duration gravitational waves (GWs) from the first part of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA fourth observing run (O4), called O4a and comprising data taken between 24 May 2023 and 16 January 2024. The GW signals targeted by this search are the so-called "long-duration" (> 1 s) transients expected from a variety of astrophysical processes, including non-axisymmetric deformations in magnetars or eccentric binary coalescences. We make minimal assumptions on the emitted GW waveforms in terms of morphologies and durations. Overall, our search targets signals with durations ~1-1000 s and frequency content in the range 16-2048 Hz. In the absence of significant detections, we report the sensitivity limits of our search in terms of root-sum-square signal amplitude (hrss) of reference waveforms. These limits improve upon the results from the third LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing run (O3) by about 30% on average. Moreover, this analysis demonstrates substantial progress in our ability to search for long-duration GW signals owing to enhancements in pipeline detection efficiencies. As detector sensitivities continue to advance and observational runs grow longer, unmodeled long-duration searches will increasingly be able to explore a range of compelling astrophysical scenarios involving neutron stars and black holes.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Variational methods for the kinetic Fokker-Planck equation

We develop a functional analytic approach to the study of the Kramers and kinetic Fokker-Planck equations which parallels the classical $H^1$ theory of uniformly elliptic equations. In particular, we identify a function space analogous to $H^1$ and develop a well-posedness theory for weak solutions in this space. In the case of a conservative force, we identify the weak solution as the minimizer of a uniformly convex functional. We prove new functional inequalities of Poincaré and Hörmander type and combine them with basic energy estimates (analogous to the Caccioppoli inequality) in an iteration procedure to obtain the $C^\infty$ regularity of weak solutions. We also use the Poincaré-type inequality to give an elementary proof of the exponential convergence to equilibrium for solutions of the kinetic Fokker-Planck equation which mirrors the classic dissipative estimate for the heat equation. Finally, we prove enhanced dissipation in a weakly collisional limit.

math.AP↗

arXiv2020

An iterative method for elliptic problems with rapidly oscillating coefficients

We introduce a new iterative method for computing solutions of elliptic equations with random rapidly oscillating coefficients. Similarly to a multigrid method, each step of the iteration involves different computations meant to address different length scales. However, we use here the homogenized equation on all scales larger than a fixed multiple of the scale of oscillation of the coefficients. While the performance of standard multigrid methods degrades rapidly under the regime of large scale separation that we consider here, we show an explicit estimate on the contraction factor of our method which is independent of the size of the domain. We also present numerical experiments which confirm the effectiveness of the method, with openly available source code.

math.NA↗

arXiv2014

Theoretical Analysis of an Ideal Noiseless Linear Amplifier for Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Entanglement Distillation

We study the operational regime of a noiseless linear amplifier based on quantum scissors that can nondeterministically amplify the one photon component of a quantum state with weak excitation. It has been shown that an arbitrarily large quantum state can be amplified by first splitting it into weak excitation states using a network of beamsplitters. The output states of the network can then be coherently recombined. In this paper, we analyse the performance of such a device for distilling entanglement after transmission through a lossy quantum channel, and look at two measures to determine the efficacy of the noiseless linear amplifier. The measures used are the amount of entanglement achievable and the final purity of the output amplified entangled state. We study the performances of both a single and a two-element noiseless linear amplifier for amplifying weakly excited states. Practically, we show that it may be advantageous to work with a limited number of stages.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

Demonstrating various quantum effects with two entangled laser beams

We report on the preparation of entangled two mode squeezed states of yet unseen quality. Based on a measurement of the covariance matrix we found a violation of the Reid and Drummond EPR-criterion at a value of only 0.36\pm0.03 compared to the threshold of 1. Furthermore, quantum state tomography was used to extract a single photon Fock state solely based on homodyne detection, demonstrating the strong quantum features of this pair of laser-beams. The probability for a single photon in this ensemble measurement exceeded 2/3.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2009

Einstein metrics with anisotropic boundary behaviour

We construct new examples of complete Einstein metrics on balls. At each point of the boundary at infinity, the metric is asymptotic to a homogeneous Einstein metric on a solvable group, which varies with the point at infinity.

math.DG↗

arXiv2008

New infrared emission of the NV centre in diamond: Zeeman and uniaxial stress studies

An emission band in the infrared is shown to be associated with a transition within the negative nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond. The band has a zero-phonon line at 1046 nm, and uniaxial stress and magnetic field measurements indicate that the emission is associated with a transition between 1E and 1A1 singlet levels. Inter-system crossing to these singlets causes the spin polarisation that makes the NV- centre attractive for quantum information processing, and the infrared emission band provides a new avenue for using the centre in such applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2004

Prospects for Pentaquark Searches in $e^+e^-$ Annihilations and $γγ$ Collisions

Recent strong experimental evidence of a narrow exotic S = +1 baryon resonance, $Θ^+$, suggests the existence of other exotic baryons. We discuss the prospects of confirming earlier experimental evidence of $Θ^+$ and the observation of additional hypothetical exotic baryons in $e^+e^-$ annihilations and $γγ$ collisions at LEP and B Factories.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2003

A New Implementation of the Region of Interest Strategy for the ATLAS Second Level Trigger

Among the many challenges presented by the future ATLAS detector at the LHC are the high data taking rate and volume and the derivation of a rapid trigger decision with limited resources. To address this challenge within the ATLAS second level trigger system, a Region-of-Interest mechanism has been adopted which dramatically reduces the relevant fiducial volume necessary to be readout and processed to small regions guided by the hardware-based first level trigger. Software has been developed to allow fast translation between arbitrary geometric regions and identifiers of small collections of the event data. This facilitates on-demand data retrieval and collection building. The system is optimized to minimize the amount of data transferred and unnecessary building of complex objects. Details of the design and implementation are presented along with preliminary performance results.

physics.comp-ph↗