You Spin Me Round: Measuring Precession in the Black Hole Population
Lead Research Organisation:
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Understanding the predictions of general relativity for the dynamic interactions of two black holes has been a long-standing unsolved problem in theoretical physics. By studying for a PhD investigating the last orbits and the merger of two black holes, these unsolved problems can be answered which would give insight into the study and detection of gravitational waves. Investigating a binary system is imperative due to its purer signal and vast amount of energy released as they merge. Developing a computer model which solves Einstein's equations for binary blackhole systems will allow us to construct precise gravitational waveforms which obeys the theory of general relativity.
These theoretical predictions of the waveforms are critical for progress to be made in the field of gravitational waves and theoretical astrophysics in general whereby the resulting waveforms can only be calculated through numerical simulations of Einstein's equations. Theorising the gravitational waveforms allows for adapted filters to be added to the weak gravitational wave signal detected by LIGO and consequent statistical analysis to be carried out. Without the numerical solutions to Einstein's equations, the gravitational wave signal is too weak to carry out analysis and even to detect that the signal has passed through the detector. This ground-breaking research will therefore enable insights into developing a technique for testing Einstein's theory and validating all corollaries as a consequence and without this research the field of gravitational waves will not have any significant progresses.
This project is achievable within the timescale. The first year will be used to understand background reading and current numerical codes, the second year will be used to analyse initial data for higher mass ratios and spins and the third year will use the code to study the details of ringdown waveforms, blackhole recoil and precession effects.
Listening to world leading academics, including LIGO spokeswoman Dr Gabriela Gonzalez, describe experimental results which match their theoretical models so accurately highlighted to me the importance of being at the forefront of science and contributing to a field which is potentially the biggest scientific breakthrough of our lifetime. It is this joy for understanding the underpinning of the universe that will no doubt propel me through the difficult times of pursuing a PhD. After successfully completing a PhD at Cardiff, my passion for theoretical astrophysics will propel me into a career in academia. I plan on carrying out postdoctoral research to gain further insight into the mathematical formalisation of gravitational waves. This will culminate in significant progresses in the field of cosmology, with publications describing consequent modifications to Einstein's theory of General Relativity.
These theoretical predictions of the waveforms are critical for progress to be made in the field of gravitational waves and theoretical astrophysics in general whereby the resulting waveforms can only be calculated through numerical simulations of Einstein's equations. Theorising the gravitational waveforms allows for adapted filters to be added to the weak gravitational wave signal detected by LIGO and consequent statistical analysis to be carried out. Without the numerical solutions to Einstein's equations, the gravitational wave signal is too weak to carry out analysis and even to detect that the signal has passed through the detector. This ground-breaking research will therefore enable insights into developing a technique for testing Einstein's theory and validating all corollaries as a consequence and without this research the field of gravitational waves will not have any significant progresses.
This project is achievable within the timescale. The first year will be used to understand background reading and current numerical codes, the second year will be used to analyse initial data for higher mass ratios and spins and the third year will use the code to study the details of ringdown waveforms, blackhole recoil and precession effects.
Listening to world leading academics, including LIGO spokeswoman Dr Gabriela Gonzalez, describe experimental results which match their theoretical models so accurately highlighted to me the importance of being at the forefront of science and contributing to a field which is potentially the biggest scientific breakthrough of our lifetime. It is this joy for understanding the underpinning of the universe that will no doubt propel me through the difficult times of pursuing a PhD. After successfully completing a PhD at Cardiff, my passion for theoretical astrophysics will propel me into a career in academia. I plan on carrying out postdoctoral research to gain further insight into the mathematical formalisation of gravitational waves. This will culminate in significant progresses in the field of cosmology, with publications describing consequent modifications to Einstein's theory of General Relativity.
Publications
Abbott B
(2019)
Search for Transient Gravitational-wave Signals Associated with Magnetar Bursts during Advanced LIGO's Second Observing Run
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott B
(2019)
Directional limits on persistent gravitational waves using data from Advanced LIGO's first two observing runs
in Physical Review D
Abbott B
(2019)
Tests of general relativity with the binary black hole signals from the LIGO-Virgo catalog GWTC-1
in Physical Review D
Abbott B
(2019)
Erratum: "Searches for Gravitational Waves from Known Pulsars at Two Harmonics in 2015-2017 LIGO Data" (2019, ApJ, 879, 10)
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott B
(2019)
Search for intermediate mass black hole binaries in the first and second observing runs of the Advanced LIGO and Virgo network
in Physical Review D
Abbott B
(2019)
GWTC-1: A Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog of Compact Binary Mergers Observed by LIGO and Virgo during the First and Second Observing Runs
in Physical Review X
Abbott B
(2019)
Search for gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 in the second Advanced LIGO observing run with an improved hidden Markov model
in Physical Review D
Abbott B
(2019)
Narrow-band search for gravitational waves from known pulsars using the second LIGO observing run
in Physical Review D
Abbott B
(2019)
Search for Gravitational-wave Signals Associated with Gamma-Ray Bursts during the Second Observing Run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott B
(2019)
Searches for Gravitational Waves from Known Pulsars at Two Harmonics in 2015-2017 LIGO Data
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott B
(2019)
Low-latency Gravitational-wave Alerts for Multimessenger Astronomy during the Second Advanced LIGO and Virgo Observing Run
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott B
(2019)
Searches for Continuous Gravitational Waves from 15 Supernova Remnants and Fomalhaut b with Advanced LIGO
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott B
(2019)
Binary Black Hole Population Properties Inferred from the First and Second Observing Runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott B
(2019)
All-sky search for long-duration gravitational-wave transients in the second Advanced LIGO observing run
in Physical Review D
Abbott B
(2019)
Search for the isotropic stochastic background using data from Advanced LIGO's second observing run
in Physical Review D
Abbott B
(2019)
Search for Eccentric Binary Black Hole Mergers with Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo during Their First and Second Observing Runs
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott BP
(2019)
Search for Subsolar Mass Ultracompact Binaries in Advanced LIGO's Second Observing Run.
in Physical review letters
Albert A
(2019)
Search for Multimessenger Sources of Gravitational Waves and High-energy Neutrinos with Advanced LIGO during Its First Observing Run, ANTARES, and IceCube
in The Astrophysical Journal
Soares-Santos M
(2019)
First Measurement of the Hubble Constant from a Dark Standard Siren using the Dark Energy Survey Galaxies and the LIGO/Virgo Binary-Black-hole Merger GW170814
in The Astrophysical Journal
Studentship Projects
Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ST/N504002/1 | 01/10/2015 | 31/03/2021 | |||
1938553 | Studentship | ST/N504002/1 | 01/10/2017 | 31/03/2021 | Charlie Hoy |
ST/S505328/1 | 01/10/2018 | 30/09/2022 | |||
1938553 | Studentship | ST/S505328/1 | 01/10/2017 | 31/03/2021 | Charlie Hoy |
Description | OzGrav Parameter Estimation |
Amount | $1,500 (AUD) |
Organisation | Australian Research Council |
Department | Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery |
Sector | Public |
Country | Australia |
Start | 03/2019 |
End | 03/2019 |
Description | LIGO Scientific Collaboration |
Organisation | LIGO Scientific Collaboration |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Contributing to LIGO scientific outputs, collaboration publications and collaborative code. |
Collaborator Contribution | Regular training and meetings. |
Impact | Detection of gravitational waves and consequently multiple published papers in physical journals. |
Title | PESummary |
Description | The PESummary Python library provides tools for creating professional looking summary pages and a single complete meta file containing all information about the analysis allowing for complete reproducability for all sample generating codes. This package is designed for users who want an easy solution to visualize the contents of their data files and to distribute the contents to collaborators or the general public. As a result, this package is meant to be as easy-to-use as possible with self explanatory function and class names and extensive documentation to show how easy it is to use this Summary page builder. The code is hosted at https://git.ligo.org/lscsoft/pesummary . |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Learnt Javascript, HTML, CSS languages and further enhanced my python knowledge. |
URL | https://lscsoft.docs.ligo.org/pesummary/what_is_pesummary.html |