Related papers: Removing degeneracy and multimodality in gravitati…
We introduce an algorithm to marginalize the likelihood for a gravitational wave signal from a quasi-circular binary merger over its extrinsic parameters, accounting for the effects of higher harmonics and spin-induced precession. The…
The observation of gravitational-wave signals from merging black-hole binaries enables direct measurement of the properties of the black holes. An individual observation allows measurement of the black-hole masses, but only limited…
We present and assess a Bayesian method to interpret gravitational wave signals from binary black holes. Our method directly compares gravitational wave data to numerical relativity simulations. This procedure bypasses approximations used…
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…
Gravitational waves are a prediction of general relativity, and with ground-based detectors now running in their advanced configuration, we will soon be able to measure them directly for the first time. Binaries of stellar-mass black holes…
The detection of orbital eccentricity for a binary black hole system via gravitational waves is a key signature to distinguish between the possible binary origins. The identification of eccentricity has been difficult so far due to the…
Using simple, intuitive arguments, we discuss the expected accuracy with which astrophysical parameters can be extracted from an observed gravitational wave signal. The observation of a chirp like signal in the data allows for measurement…
Precession in black-hole binaries is caused by a misalignment between the total spin and the orbital angular momentum. The gravitational-wave emission of such systems is anisotropic, which leads to an asymmetry in the $\pm m$ multipoles…
In the last few years before merger, supermassive black hole binaries will rapidly inspiral and precess in a magnetic field imposed by a surrounding circumbinary disk. Multiple simulations suggest this relative motion will convert some of…
To date, close to fifty presumed black hole binary mergers were observed by the LIGO and Virgo detectors. The analyses have been done with an assumption that these objects are black holes by limiting the spin prior to the Kerr bound.…
GW190521 is a remarkable gravitational-wave signal on multiple fronts: its source is the most massive black hole binary identified to date and could have spins misaligned with its orbit, leading to spin-induced precession -- an…
The inspiral and merger of two orbiting black holes is among the most promising sources for the first (hopefully imminent) direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs), and measurements of these signals could provide a wealth of…
Accurate modeling of gravitational waves from binary black hole mergers is essential for extracting their rich physics. A key detail for understanding the physics of mergers is predicting the precise time when the amplitude of the…
We compute the gravitational waveform emitted during the transition from quasi-spherical inspiral to plunge, merger and ringdown for a system of two black holes in the extreme mass ratio limit, where the primary is spinning and the…
We study the degeneracy of theoretical gravitational waveforms for binary black hole mergers using an aligned-spin effective-one-body model. After appropriate truncation, bandpassing, and matching, we identify regions in the mass--spin…
Observations of gravitational waves from massive binary black hole systems at cosmological distances can be used to search for a dependence of the speed of propagation of the waves on wavelength, and thereby to bound the mass of a…
The latest binary black hole population estimates argue for a subpopulation of unequal component mass binaries with spins that are likely small but isotropically distributed. This implies a non-zero probability of detecting spin-induced…
Binary black holes with misaligned spins will generically induce both precession and nutation of the orbital angular momentum $\bf{L}$ about the total angular momentum $\bf{J}$. These phenomena modulate the phase and amplitude of the…
We present a detailed descriptive analysis of the gravitational radiation from black-hole binary mergers of nonspinning black holes, based on numerical simulations of systems varying from equal-mass to a 6:1 mass ratio. Our primary goal is…
Alternative theories of gravity predict up to six distinct polarization modes for gravitational waves. Strong gravitational lensing of gravitational waves allows us to probe the polarization content of these signals by effectively…