Related papers: Model-independent inference on compact-binary obse…
Gravitational-wave observations are playing an instrumental role in understanding the population of binary compact objects in the Universe. These observations have begun to hint at the mass distribution of binary black holes (BBHs), with…
The recent breakthroughs regarding the detection of compact binary mergers via gravitational waves opened up a new window to the Universe. Gravitational-wave models have been essential to this success since they are necessary to infer the…
Binary neutron-star mergers will predominantly produce black-hole remnants of mass $\sim 3-4\,M_{\odot}$, thus populating the putative \emph{low mass gap} between neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes. If these low-mass black holes are…
Ground-based gravitational-wave (GW) observatories have transformed our view of compact-object mergers, yet their reach still limits a comprehensive reconstruction of the processes that generate these systems. Only next-generation…
Orbital eccentricity is one of the most robust discriminators for distinguishing between dynamical and isolated formation scenarios of binary black hole mergers using gravitational-wave observatories such as LIGO and Virgo. Using…
The recent discovery of GW150914, the binary black hole merger detected by Advanced LIGO, has the potential to revolutionize observational astrophysics. But to fully utilize this new window into the universe, we must compare these new…
Gravitational waves from the merger of two neutron stars cannot be easily distinguished from those produced by a comparable-mass mixed binary in which one of the companions is a black hole. Low-mass black holes are interesting because they…
Activities in data analysis and numerical simulation of gravitational waves have to date largely proceeded independently. In this work we study how waveforms obtained from numerical simulations could be effectively used within the data…
The properties of precessing, coalescing binary black holes are presently inferred through comparison with two approximate models of compact binary coalescence. In this work we show these two models often disagree substantially when…
The continued operation of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave detectors is enabling the first detailed measurements of the mass, spin, and redshift distributions of the merging binary black hole population. Our present…
Gravitational-wave (GW) measurements of physical effects such as spin-induced quadrupole moments can distinguish binaries consisting of black holes from non-black hole binaries. While these effects may be poorly constrained for single-event…
Compact objects observed via gravitational waves are classified as black holes or neutron stars primarily based on their inferred mass with respect to stellar evolution expectations. However, astrophysical expectations for the lowest mass…
Gravitational wave-forms from coalescences of binary black hole systems and binary neutron star systems with low tidal effects can hardly be distinguished if the two systems have similar masses. In the absence of discriminating power based…
Current searches for gravitational waves from compact-object binaries with the LIGO and Virgo observatories employ waveform models with spins aligned (or anti-aligned) with the orbital angular momentum. Here, we derive a new statistic to…
Recent detections of gravitational waves from merging binary black holes opened new possibilities to study the evolution of massive stars and black hole formation. In particular, stellar evolution models may be constrained on the basis of…
Using a population synthesis approach, we compute the total merger rate in the local Universe for double neutron stars, double black holes, and black hole -- neutron star binaries. These compact binaries are the prime source candidates for…
The detection of gravitational waves emitted by binary black holes raises questions regarding the origin of binaries. There are several models in the literature involving binary evolution in both the field and clusters. We compare the…
The gravitational-wave signal from the merger of two neutron stars cannot be easily differentiated from the signal produced by a comparable-mass mixed binary of a neutron star and a black hole. Indeed, both binary types can account for the…
Modeling the stochastic gravitational wave background from various astrophysical sources is a key objective in view of upcoming observations with ground- and space-based gravitational wave observatories such as Advanced LIGO, VIRGO, eLISA…
The detection of gravitational waves from coalescing binary neutron stars represents another milestone in gravitational-wave astronomy. However, since LIGO is currently not as sensitive to the merger/ringdown part of the waveform, the…