Related papers: Model-independent inference on compact-binary obse…
The astrophysical origin of the over 90 compact binary mergers discovered by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave observatories is an open question. While the unusual mass and spin of some of the discovered objects constrain progenitor…
Gravitational waves provide a powerful probe of both the astrophysical processes driving black hole mergers and the dynamics of the Universe, but these measurements rely on accurately inferring the unknown underlying population. We perform…
Exotic compact objects can be difficult to distinguish from black holes in the inspiral phase of the binaries observed by gravitational-wave detectors, but significant differences may be present in the merger and post-merger signal. We…
The localization of stellar-mass binary black hole mergers using gravitational waves is critical in understanding the properties of the binaries' host galaxies, observing possible electromagnetic emission from the mergers, or using them as…
Attempts to understand the formation of binary black hole (BBH) systems detected via gravitational wave (GW) emission are affected by many unknowns and uncertainties, from both the observational and theoretical (astrophysical modelling)…
The observed distributions of the source properties from gravitational-wave detections are biased due to the selection effects and detection criteria in the detections, analogous to the Malmquist bias. In this work, this observation bias is…
Measurements of black-hole spins from gravitational-wave observations of black-hole binaries with ground-based detectors are expected to be hampered by partial degeneracies in the gravitational-wave phasing: between the two component spins,…
LIGO and Virgo have recently observed a number of gravitational wave (GW) signals that are fully consistent with being emitted by binary black holes described by general relativity. However, there are theoretical proposals of exotic objects…
In August 2017, the first detection of a binary neutron star merger, GW170817, made it possible to study neutron stars in compact binary systems using gravitational waves. Despite being the loudest gravitational wave event detected to date…
The increase in the sensitivity of gravitational wave interferometers will bring additional detections of binary black hole and double neutron star mergers. It will also very likely add many merger events of black hole - neutron star…
The next generation of ground-based gravitational wave detectors may detect a few mergers of comparable-mass M\simeq 100-1000 Msun ("intermediate-mass'', or IMBH) spinning black holes. Black hole spin is known to have a significant impact…
Coalescing compact binaries with neutron star or black hole components provide the most promising sources of gravitational radiation for detection by the LIGO/VIRGO/GEO/TAMA laser interferometers now under construction. This fact has…
Gravitational-wave observations provide a powerful probe of compact objects and strong-field gravity. In this work, we investigate the detectability of binaries containing (sub-)solar-mass black holes and superspinars with current and…
The recent LIGO detection of gravitational waves from black-hole binaries offers the exciting possibility of testing gravitational theories in the previously inaccessible strong-field, highly relativistic regime. While the LIGO detections…
Largely motivated by the development of highly sensitive gravitational-wave detectors, our understanding of merging compact binaries and the gravitational waves they generate has improved dramatically in recent years. Breakthroughs in…
Inspirals and mergers of black hole (BHs) and/or neutron star (NSs) binaries are expected to be abundant sources for ground-based gravitational-wave (GW) detectors. We assess the capabilities of Advanced LIGO and Virgo to measure component…
We discuss the extraction of information from detected binary black hole (BBH) coalescence gravitational waves, focusing on the merger phase that occurs after the gradual inspiral and before the ringdown. Our results are: (1) If numerical…
Inspiralling binary systems of neutron stars or black holes are promising sources of gravitational radiation detectable by large-scale laser interferometric gravitational observatories, such as the US LIGO and Italian-French VIRGO projects.…
Recent gravitational wave observations include possible detections of black hole - neutron star binary mergers. As with binary black hole mergers, numerical simulations help characterize the sources. For binary systems with neutron star…
We report on advances to interpret current and future gravitational-wave events in light of astrophysical simulations. A machine-learning emulator is trained on numerical population-synthesis predictions and inserted into a Bayesian…