Related papers: Two-harmonic approximation for gravitational wavef…
[Abridged] Binary black holes may form and merge dynamically. These binaries are likely to become bound with high eccentricities, resulting in a burst of gravitational radiation at their point of closest approach. When such a binary is…
Black hole and neutron star X-ray binary systems routinely show quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in their X-ray flux. Despite being strong, easily measurable signals, their physical origin has long remained elusive. However, recent…
In this paper, we derive a set of equations of motions for binaries on eccentric orbits undergoing spin-induced precession that can efficiently be integrated on the radiation-reaction timescale. We find a family of solutions with a…
We present a new method for extracting the instantaneous orbital axis only from gravitational wave strains of precessing binary systems observed from a particular observer direction. This method enables us to reconstruct the co-precessing…
Characterizing the properties of black holes is one of the most important science objectives for gravitational-wave observations. Astrophysical evidence suggests that black holes that are nearly extremal (i.e. spins near the theoretical…
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…
We present IMRPhenomXODE, a new phenomenological frequency-domain waveform approximant for gravitational wave (GW) signals from precessing binary black holes (BBHs) with generic spin configurations. We build upon the success of…
Spin precession is a generic feature of compact binary coalescences, which leaves clear imprints in the gravitational waveforms. Building on previous work, we present an efficient time domain inspiral-merger-ringdown effective-one-body…
High-accuracy binary black hole simulations are presented for black holes with spins anti-aligned with the orbital angular momentum. The particular case studied represents an equal-mass binary with spins of equal magnitude S/m^2=0.43757 \pm…
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…
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…
We show that binary black hole mergers with precessing evolution can potentially excite photons from the quantum vacuum in such a way that total helicity is not preserved in the process. Helicity violation is allowed by quantum fluctuations…
Large dark matter overdensities can form around black holes of astrophysical and primordial origin as they form and grow. This "dark dress" inevitably affects the dynamical evolution of binary systems, and induces a dephasing in the…
We present the first analytical inspiral-merger-ringdown gravitational waveforms from binary black holes (BBHs) with non-precessing spins, that is based on a description of the late-inspiral, merger and ringdown in full general relativity.…
We evolve a set of 32 equal-mass black-hole binaries with collinear spins (with intrinsic spin magnitudes $|\vec{S}_{1,2}/m^2_{1,2}|=0.8$) to study the effects of precession in the highly nonlinear plunge and merger regimes. We compare the…
This a particularly exciting time for gravitational wave physics. Ground-based gravitational wave detectors are now operating at a sensitivity such that gravitational radiation may soon be directly detected, and recently several groups have…
The estimation of a physical system's normal modes is a fundamental problem in physics. The quasi-normal modes of perturbed Kerr black holes, with their related spheroidal harmonics, are key examples, and have diverse applications in…
A general method is presented for estimating the uncertainty in hybrid models of gravitational waveforms from binary black-hole systems with arbitrary physical parameters, and thence the highest allowable initial orbital frequency for a…
Several models of physics beyond the Standard Model predict the existence of new ultralight bosons. This thesis investigates a way to discover such particles through observations of gravitational waves from binary black holes. This is…
The propagation of gravitational waves can be described in terms of null geodesics by using the geometrical optics approximation. However, at large but finite frequencies the propagation is affected by the spin-orbit coupling corrections to…