arXiv subjects

Sukanta Bose

Publications and source records attributed to Sukanta Bose.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Gravitational waves from quasinormal modes of a class of Lorentzian wormholes

Quasinormal modes of a two-parameter family of Lorentzian wormhole spacetimes, which arise as solutions in a specific scalar-tensor theory associated with braneworld gravity, are obtained using standard numerical methods. Being solutions in a scalar-tensor theory, these wormholes can exist with matter satisfying the Weak Energy Condition. If one posits that the end-state of stellar-mass binary black hole mergers, of the type observed in GW150914, can be these wormholes, then we show how their properties can be measured from their distinct signatures in the gravitational waves emitted by them as they settle down in the post-merger phase from an initially perturbed state. We propose that their scalar quasinormal modes correspond to the so-called breathing modes, which normally arise in gravitational wave solutions in scalar-tensor theories. We show how the frequency and damping time of these modes depend on the wormhole parameters, including its mass. We derive the mode solutions and use them to determine how one can measure those parameters when these wormholes are the endstate of binary black hole mergers. Specifically, we find that if a breathing mode is observed in LIGO-like detectors with design sensitivity, and has a maximum amplitude equal to that of the tensor mode that was observed of GW150914, then for a range of values of the wormhole parameters, we will be able to discern it from a black hole. If in future observations we are able to confirm the existence of such wormholes, we would, at one go, have some indirect evidence of a modified theory of gravity as well as extra spatial dimensions.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2017

A unified approach to $χ^2$ discriminators for searches of gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences

We describe a general mathematical framework for $χ^2$ discriminators in the context of the compact binary coalescence search. We show that with any $χ^2$ is associated a vector bundle over the signal manifold, that is, the manifold traced out by the signal waveforms in the function space of data segments. The $χ^2$ is then defined as the square of the $L_2$ norm of the data vector projected onto a finite dimensional subspace (the fibre) of the Hilbert space of data trains and orthogonal to the signal waveform - any such fibre leads to a $χ^2$ discriminator and the full vector bundle comprising the subspaces and the base manifold constitute the $χ^2$ discriminator. We show that the $χ^2$ discriminators used so far in the CBC searches correspond to different fiber structures constituting different vector bundles on the same base manifold, namely, the parameter space. The general formulation indicates procedures to formulate new $χ^2$s which could be more effective in discriminating against commonly occurring glitches in the data. It also shows that no $χ^2$ with a reasonable degree of freedom is foolproof. It could also shed light on understanding why the traditional $χ^2$ works so well. As an example, we propose a family of ambiguity $χ^2$ discriminators that is an alternative to the traditional one. Any such ambiguity $χ^2$ makes use of the filtered output of the template bank, thus adding negligible cost to the overall search. We test the performance of ambiguity $χ^2$ on simulated data using spinless TaylorF2 waveforms. We show that the ambiguity $χ^2$ essentially gives a clean separation between glitches and signals. Finally, we investigate the effects of mismatch between signal and templates on the $χ^2$ and also further indicate how the ambiguity $χ^2$ can be generalized to detector networks for coherent observations.

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arXiv2017

Neutron-star Radius from a Population of Binary Neutron Star Mergers

We show how gravitational-wave observations with advanced detectors of tens to several tens of neutron-star binaries can measure the neutron-star radius with an accuracy of several to a few percent, for mass and spatial distributions that are realistic, and with none of the sources located within 100 Mpc. We achieve such an accuracy by combining measurements of the total mass from the inspiral phase with those of the compactness from the postmerger oscillation frequencies. For estimating the measurement errors of these frequencies we utilize analytical fits to postmerger numerical-relativity waveforms in the time domain, obtained here for the first time, for four nuclear-physics equations of state and a couple of values for the mass. We further exploit quasi-universal relations to derive errors in compactness from those frequencies. Measuring the average radius to well within 10% is possible for a sample of 100 binaries distributed uniformly in volume between 100 and 300 Mpc, so long as the equation of state is not too soft or the binaries are not too heavy.

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arXiv2016

Towards mitigating the effect of sine-Gaussian noise transients on searches for gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences

Gravitational wave (GW) signals were recently detected directly by LIGO from the coalescences of two black hole pairs. These detections have strengthened our belief that compact binary coalescences (CBCs) are the most promising GW detection prospects accessible to ground-based interferometric detectors. For detecting CBC signals it is of vital importance to characterize and identify non-Gaussian and non-stationary noise in these detectors. In this work we model two important classes of transient artifacts that contribute to this noise and adversely affect the detector sensitivity to CBC signals. One of them is the sine-Gaussian glitch, characterized by a central frequency $f_0$ and a quality factor $Q$ and the other is the chirping sine-Gaussian glitch, which is characterized by $f_0$, $Q$ as well as a chirp parameter. We study the response a bank of compact binary inspiral templates has to these two families of glitches when they are used to match-filter data containing any of these glitches. Two important characteristics of this response are the distributions of the signal-to-noise ratio and the timelag of individual templates. We show how these distributions differ from those when the detector data has a real CBC signal instead of a glitch. We argue that these distinctions can be utilized to develop useful signal-artifact vetos that add negligibly to the computational cost of a CBC search. Specifically, we show how $f_0$ of a glitch can be used to set adaptive time-windows around it so that any template trigger occurring in that window can be quarantined for further vetting of its supposed astrophysical nature. Second, we recommend focusing efforts on reducing the incidence of glitches with low $f_0$ values because they create CBC triggers with the longest timelags. This work allows us to associate such triggers with the glitches which otherwise would have escaped attention.

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arXiv2016

Geographic and seasonal influences on optical followup of gravitational wave events

We investigate the effects of observatory locations on the probability of discovering optical/infrared counterparts of gravitational wave sources. We show that for the LIGO--Virgo network, the odds of discovering optical/infrared (OIR) counterparts show some latitude dependence, but weak or no longitudinal dependence. A stronger effect is seen to arise from the timing of LIGO/Virgo observing runs, with northern OIR observatories having better chances of finding the counterparts in northern winters. Assuming identical technical capabilities, the tentative mid-2017 three-detector network observing favors southern OIR observatories for discovery of EM counterparts.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2016

An optimal method for scheduling observations of large sky error regions for finding optical counterparts to transients

The discovery and subsequent study of optical counterparts to transient sources is crucial for their complete astrophysical understanding. Various gamma ray burst (GRB) detectors, and more notably the ground--based gravitational wave detectors, typically have large uncertainties in the sky positions of detected sources. Searching these large sky regions spanning hundreds of square degrees is a formidable challenge for most ground--based optical telescopes, which can usually image less than tens of square degrees of the sky in a single night. We present algorithms for optimal scheduling of such follow--up observations in order to maximize the probability of imaging the optical counterpart, based on the all--sky probability distribution of the source position. We incorporate realistic observing constraints like the diurnal cycle, telescope pointing limitations, available observing time, and the rising/setting of the target at the observatory location. We use simulations to demonstrate that our proposed algorithms outperform the default greedy observing schedule used by many observatories. Our algorithms are applicable for follow--up of other transient sources with large positional uncertainties, like Fermi--detected GRBs, and can easily be adapted for scheduling radio or space--based X--ray followup.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2016

Gravitational wave astrophysics, data analysis and multimessenger astronomy

This paper reviews gravitational wave sources and their detection. One of the most exciting potential sources of gravitational waves are coalescing binary black hole systems. They can occur on all mass scales and be formed in numerous ways, many of which are not understood. They are generally invisible in electromagnetic waves, and they provide opportunities for deep investigation of Einstein's general theory of relativity. Sect. 1 of this paper considers ways that binary black holes can be created in the universe, and includes the prediction that binary black hole coalescence events are likely to be the first gravitational wave sources to be detected. The next parts of this paper address the detection of chirp waveforms from coalescence events in noisy data. Such analysis is computationally intensive. Sect. 2 reviews a new and powerful method of signal detection based on the GPU-implemented summed parallel infinite impulse response filters. Such filters are intrinsically real time alorithms, that can be used to rapidly detect and localise signals. Sect. 3 of the paper reviews the use of GPU processors for rapid searching for gravitational wave bursts that can arise from black hole births and coalescences. In sect. 4 the use of GPU processors to enable fast efficient statistical significance testing of gravitational wave event candidates is reviewed. Sect. 5 of this paper addresses the method of multimessenger astronomy where the discovery of electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave events can be used to identify sources, understand their nature and obtain much greater science outcomes from each identified event.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2016

Tackling excess noise from bilinear and nonlinear couplings in gravitational-wave interferometers

We describe a tool we improved to detect excess noise in the gravitational wave (GW) channel arising from its bilinear or nonlinear coupling with fluctuations of various components of a GW interferometer and its environment. We also describe a higher-order statistics tool we developed to characterize these couplings, e.g., by unraveling the frequencies of the fluctuations contributing to such noise, and demonstrate its utility by applying it to understand nonlinear couplings in Advanced LIGO engineering data. Once such noise is detected, it is highly desirable to remove it or correct for it. Such action in the past has been shown to improve the sensitivity of the instrument in searches of astrophysical signals. If this is not possible, then steps must be taken to mitigate its influence, e.g., by characterizing its effect on astrophysical searches. We illustrate this through a study of the effect of transient sine-Gaussian noise artifacts on a compact binary coalescence template bank.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2015

A search of the Orion spur for continuous gravitational waves using a "loosely coherent" algorithm on data from LIGO interferometers

We report results of a wideband search for periodic gravitational waves from isolated neutron stars within the Orion spur towards both the inner and outer regions of our Galaxy. As gravitational waves interact very weakly with matter, the search is unimpeded by dust and concentrations of stars. One search disk (A) is $6.87^\circ$ in diameter and centered on $20^\textrm{h}10^\textrm{m}54.71^\textrm{s}+33^\circ33'25.29"$, and the other (B) is $7.45^\circ$ in diameter and centered on $8^\textrm{h}35^\textrm{m}20.61^\textrm{s}-46^\circ49'25.151"$. We explored the frequency range of 50-1500 Hz and frequency derivative from $0$ to $-5\times 10^{-9}$ Hz/s. A multi-stage, loosely coherent search program allowed probing more deeply than before in these two regions, while increasing coherence length with every stage. Rigorous followup parameters have winnowed initial coincidence set to only 70 candidates, to be examined manually. None of those 70 candidates proved to be consistent with an isolated gravitational wave emitter, and 95% confidence level upper limits were placed on continuous-wave strain amplitudes. Near $169$ Hz we achieve our lowest 95% CL upper limit on worst-case linearly polarized strain amplitude $h_0$ of $6.3\times 10^{-25}$, while at the high end of our frequency range we achieve a worst-case upper limit of $3.4\times 10^{-24}$ for all polarizations and sky locations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

Observational constraints on spinning, relativistic Bose-Einstein condensate stars

Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) have been proposed as candidate states of matter for the interior of neutron stars. Specifically, Chavanis and Harko obtained the mass-radius relation for a BEC star and proposed that the recently discovered neutron stars with masses around 2$M_\odot$ are BEC stars. They employed a barotropic equation of state (EOS), with one free parameter, that was first found by Colpi, Wasserman, and Shapiro (CSW), to describe them and derive stable equilibrium configurations of spinning BEC stars in General Relativity. In this work we show that while it is true that BECs allow for compact object masses as heavy as the heaviest observed ones, such stars cannot simultaneously have radii that are small enough to be consistent with the latest observations, in spite of the flexibility available in the EOS in the form of the free parameter. In fact, our conclusion applies to any spinning relativistic boson star that obeys the CSW EOS.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

A directed search for gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 with initial LIGO

We present results of a search for continuously-emitted gravitational radiation, directed at the brightest low-mass X-ray binary, Scorpius X-1. Our semi-coherent analysis covers 10 days of LIGO S5 data ranging from 50-550 Hz, and performs an incoherent sum of coherent $\mathcal{F}$-statistic power distributed amongst frequency-modulated orbital sidebands. All candidates not removed at the veto stage were found to be consistent with noise at a 1% false alarm rate. We present Bayesian 95% confidence upper limits on gravitational-wave strain amplitude using two different prior distributions: a standard one, with no a priori assumptions about the orientation of Scorpius X-1; and an angle-restricted one, using a prior derived from electromagnetic observations. Median strain upper limits of 1.3e-24 and 8e-25 are reported at 150 Hz for the standard and angle-restricted searches respectively. This proof of principle analysis was limited to a short observation time by unknown effects of accretion on the intrinsic spin frequency of the neutron star, but improves upon previous upper limits by factors of ~1.4 for the standard, and 2.3 for the angle-restricted search at the sensitive region of the detector.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Narrow-band search of continuous gravitational-wave signals from Crab and Vela pulsars in Virgo VSR4 data

In this paper we present the results of a coherent narrow-band search for continuous gravitational-wave signals from the Crab and Vela pulsars conducted on Virgo VSR4 data. In order to take into account a possible small mismatch between the gravitational wave frequency and two times the star rotation frequency, inferred from measurement of the electromagnetic pulse rate, a range of 0.02 Hz around two times the star rotational frequency has been searched for both the pulsars. No evidence for a signal has been found and 95$\%$ confidence level upper limits have been computed both assuming polarization parameters are completely unknown and that they are known with some uncertainty, as derived from X-ray observations of the pulsar wind torii. For Vela the upper limits are comparable to the spin-down limit, computed assuming that all the observed spin-down is due to the emission of gravitational waves. For Crab the upper limits are about a factor of two below the spin-down limit, and represent a significant improvement with respect to past analysis. This is the first time the spin-down limit is significantly overcome in a narrow-band search.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2014

First all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from unknown sources in binary systems

We present the first results of an all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from unknown spinning neutron stars in binary systems using LIGO and Virgo data. Using a specially developed analysis program, the TwoSpect algorithm, the search was carried out on data from the sixth LIGO Science Run and the second and third Virgo Science Runs. The search covers a range of frequencies from 20 Hz to 520 Hz, a range of orbital periods from 2 to ~2,254 h and a frequency- and period-dependent range of frequency modulation depths from 0.277 to 100 mHz. This corresponds to a range of projected semi-major axes of the orbit from ~0.6e-3 ls to ~6,500 ls assuming the orbit of the binary is circular. While no plausible candidate gravitational wave events survive the pipeline, upper limits are set on the analyzed data. The most sensitive 95% confidence upper limit obtained on gravitational wave strain is 2.3e-24 at 217 Hz, assuming the source waves are circularly polarized. Although this search has been optimized for circular binary orbits, the upper limits obtained remain valid for orbital eccentricities as large as 0.9. In addition, upper limits are placed on continuous gravitational wave emission from the low-mass x-ray binary Scorpius X-1 between 20 Hz and 57.25 Hz.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Improved Upper Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from 2009-2010 LIGO and Virgo Data

Gravitational waves from a variety of sources are predicted to superpose to create a stochastic background. This background is expected to contain unique information from throughout the history of the universe that is unavailable through standard electromagnetic observations, making its study of fundamental importance to understanding the evolution of the universe. We carry out a search for the stochastic background with the latest data from LIGO and Virgo. Consistent with predictions from most stochastic gravitational-wave background models, the data display no evidence of a stochastic gravitational-wave signal. Assuming a gravitational-wave spectrum of Omega_GW(f)=Omega_alpha*(f/f_ref)^alpha, we place 95% confidence level upper limits on the energy density of the background in each of four frequency bands spanning 41.5-1726 Hz. In the frequency band of 41.5-169.25 Hz for a spectral index of alpha=0, we constrain the energy density of the stochastic background to be Omega_GW(f)<5.6x10^-6. For the 600-1000 Hz band, Omega_GW(f)<0.14*(f/900 Hz)^3, a factor of 2.5 lower than the best previously reported upper limits. We find Omega_GW(f)<1.8x10^-4 using a spectral index of zero for 170-600 Hz and Omega_GW(f)<1.0*(f/1300 Hz)^3 for 1000-1726 Hz, bands in which no previous direct limits have been placed. The limits in these four bands are the lowest direct measurements to date on the stochastic background. We discuss the implications of these results in light of the recent claim by the BICEP2 experiment of the possible evidence for inflationary gravitational waves.

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arXiv2014

Methods and results of a search for gravitational waves associated with gamma-ray bursts using the GEO600, LIGO, and Virgo detectors

In this paper we report on a search for short-duration gravitational wave bursts in the frequency range 64 Hz-1792 Hz associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), using data from GEO600 and one of the LIGO or Virgo detectors. We introduce the method of a linear search grid to analyse GRB events with large sky localisation uncertainties such as the localisations provided by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM). Coherent searches for gravitational waves (GWs) can be computationally intensive when the GRB sky position is not well-localised, due to the corrections required for the difference in arrival time between detectors. Using a linear search grid we are able to reduce the computational cost of the analysis by a factor of O(10) for GBM events. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our analysis pipeline can improve upon the sky localisation of GRBs detected by the GBM, if a high-frequency GW signal is observed in coincidence. We use the linear search grid method in a search for GWs associated with 129 GRBs observed satellite-based gamma-ray experiments between 2006 and 2011. The GRBs in our sample had not been previously analysed for GW counterparts. A fraction of our GRB events are analysed using data from GEO600 while the detector was using squeezed-light states to improve its sensitivity; this is the first search for GWs using data from a squeezed-light interferometric observatory. We find no evidence for GW signals, either with any individual GRB in this sample or with the population as a whole. For each GRB we place lower bounds on the distance to the progenitor, assuming a fixed GW emission energy of $10^{-2} M_{\odot}c^{2}$, with a median exclusion distance of 0.8 Mpc for emission at 500 Hz and 0.3 Mpc at 1 kHz. The reduced computational cost associated with a linear search grid will enable rapid searches for GWs associated with Fermi GBM events in the Advanced detector era.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Search for gravitational radiation from intermediate mass black hole binaries in data from the second LIGO-Virgo joint science run

This paper reports on an unmodeled, all-sky search for gravitational waves from merging intermediate mass black hole binaries (IMBHB). The search was performed on data from the second joint science run of the LIGO and Virgo detectors (July 2009 - October 2010) and was sensitive to IMBHBs with a range up to $\sim 200$ Mpc, averaged over the possible sky positions and inclinations of the binaries with respect to the line of sight. No significant candidate was found. Upper limits on the coalescence-rate density of nonspinning IMBHBs with total masses between 100 and $450 \ \mbox{M}_{\odot}$ and mass ratios between $0.25$ and $1\,$ were placed by combining this analysis with an analogous search performed on data from the first LIGO-Virgo joint science run (November 2005 - October 2007). The most stringent limit was set for systems consisting of two $88 \ \mbox{M}_{\odot}$ black holes and is equal to $0.12 \ \mbox{Mpc}^{-3} \ \mbox{Myr}^{-1}$ at the $90\%$ confidence level. This paper also presents the first estimate, for the case of an unmodeled analysis, of the impact on the search range of IMBHB spin configurations: the visible volume for IMBHBs with nonspinning components is roughly doubled for a population of IMBHBs with spins aligned with the binary's orbital angular momentum and uniformly distributed in the dimensionless spin parameter up to 0.8, whereas an analogous population with antialigned spins decreases the visible volume by $\sim 20\%\,$.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Measuring neutron-star ellipticity with measurements of the stochastic gravitational-wave background

Galactic neutron stars are a promising source of gravitational waves in the analysis band of detectors such as LIGO and Virgo. Previous searches for gravitational waves from neutron stars have focused on the detection of individual neutron stars, which are either nearby or highly non-spherical. Here we consider the stochastic gravitational-wave signal arising from the ensemble of Galactic neutron stars. Using a population synthesis model, we estimate the single-sigma sensitivity of current and planned gravitational-wave observatories to average neutron star ellipticity $ε$ as a function of the number of in-band Galactic neutron stars $N_\text{tot}$. For the plausible case of $N_\text{tot}\approx 53000$, and assuming one year of observation time with colocated initial LIGO detectors, we find it to be $σ_ε=2.1\times10^{-7}$, which is comparable to current bounds on some nearby neutron stars. (The current best $95\%$ upper limits are $ε\lesssim7\times10^{-8}.$) It is unclear if Advanced LIGO can significantly improve on this sensitivity using spatially separated detectors. For the proposed Einstein Telescope, we estimate that $σε=5.6\times10^{-10}$. Finally, we show that stochastic measurements can be combined with measurements of individual neutron stars in order to estimate the number of in-band Galactic neutron stars. In this way, measurements of stochastic gravitational waves provide a complementary tool for studying Galactic neutron stars.

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arXiv2014

Search for gravitational wave ringdowns from perturbed intermediate mass black holes in LIGO-Virgo data from 2005-2010

We report results from a search for gravitational waves produced by perturbed intermediate mass black holes (IMBH) in data collected by LIGO and Virgo between 2005 and 2010. The search was sensitive to astrophysical sources that produced damped sinusoid gravitational wave signals, also known as ringdowns, with frequency $50\le f_{0}/\mathrm{Hz} \le 2000$ and decay timescale $0.0001\lesssim τ/\mathrm{s} \lesssim 0.1$ characteristic of those produced in mergers of IMBH pairs. No significant gravitational wave candidate was detected. We report upper limits on the astrophysical coalescence rates of IMBHs with total binary mass $50 \le M/\mathrm{M}_\odot \le 450$ and component mass ratios of either 1:1 or 4:1. For systems with total mass $100 \le M/\mathrm{M}_\odot \le 150$, we report a 90%-confidence upper limit on the rate of binary IMBH mergers with non-spinning and equal mass components of $6.9\times10^{-8}\,$Mpc$^{-3}$yr$^{-1}$. We also report a rate upper limit for ringdown waveforms from perturbed IMBHs, radiating 1% of their mass as gravitational waves in the fundamental, $\ell=m=2$, oscillation mode, that is nearly three orders of magnitude more stringent than previous results.

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