Gravitational-wave Research
Lead Research Organisation:
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Information Already Provided.
Organisations
- CARDIFF UNIVERSITY (Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Birmingham (Collaboration)
- University of Glasgow (Collaboration)
- University of the West of Scotland (Collaboration)
- University of the Balearic Islands (Collaboration)
- LIGO scientific collaboration (Collaboration)
- Max Planck Society (Collaboration)
Publications
Abbott B
(2021)
A Gravitational-wave Measurement of the Hubble Constant Following the Second Observing Run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott B
(2019)
All-sky search for short gravitational-wave bursts in the second Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo run
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
(2020)
A guide to LIGO-Virgo detector noise and extraction of transient gravitational-wave signals
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
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)
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)
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 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 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 Continuous Gravitational Waves from 15 Supernova Remnants and Fomalhaut b with Advanced LIGO *
in The Astrophysical Journal
| Description | We made very significant contributions to signal characterisation and astrophysical inference of gravitational-wave observations by the LIGO-Virgo Collaboration. In particular our contributions were instrumental in the characterisation of the first multi-messenger detection: GW170817. This collaboration work was complemented by independent investigations on the high-mass event GW170729 and on instrumental effects and their mitigation for GW170817. We contributed to the analysis of GW190521, the most massive binary black-hole to date at 150 solar masses, that of GW190814, an exceptional 23 solar masses and 2.6 solar masses binary, GW190412: a high mass-ratio binary black-hole, and GW190425, an unusually heavy binary neutron-star with a mass of 3.4 solar masses. Furthermore we developed Reduced Order Quadratures (ROQ) rules for gravitational-wave analysis, which allow for speed-up of several orders of magnitude in parameter estimation analyses. From this work we have created a python-based framework to compute rules for new waveform models: PyROQ, which enables faster deployment of such rules than previously. This software has been used in several studies, constructing ROQs for several gravitational-wave signal models. We also characterised the spin measurement capabilities of early advanced LIGO, informing requirements for detector commissioning, waveform models, and population studies. We characterised the impact of higher-mode physics on parameter inference, identifying the potential biases for future observations and waveform model developments. And using machine-learning techniques we showed the future of binary neutron star equation-of-state inference: we built a new approach to combine the posterior from individual neutron-star observations, solving the issue of the limited number of posterior samples. This paves the way towards ground-breaking measurement of the state of matter at supranuclear densities. The new era of the field requires an adaptation of the scientific tools used. We developed a new post-processing library, PESummary, now a reference for the world-wide community. In addition, the next generation parameter estimation software is being developed with the expertise of the Cardiff group. We showed the benefits of fast three-dimensional localisation of gravitational-wave sources to greatly increase the likelihood of identifying an electromagnetic counterpart. Furthering this work, we developed a new method for fast localisation, Focused Reduced Order Quadrature (FROQ), enabling accurate sky-localisation of binary neutron star sources in minutes, while including key information about their masses and orientation on the same time-scale. This analysis provides an estimate of the sky location of gravitational-wave sources in minutes that is more accurate than faster approximate methods. GW170817 demonstrated the great potential of multi-messenger astronomy, and that accurate localisation in minutes is key. |
| Exploitation Route | All results are public, including data and software, via github/zenodo resources linked from all relevant published work. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Financial Services and Management Consultancy |
| Description | Our findings in using high-performance computing for gravitational-wave data analysis have been used by, for instance, the Oracle corporation for their cloud computing efforts. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Description | Advanced LIGO Operations Support |
| Amount | £1,259,847 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/V001337/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2020 |
| End | 09/2023 |
| Description | GEO600 |
| Organisation | Max Planck Society |
| Department | Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Detector characterisation and data analysis; strategic plans, scientific motivation for improving detector sensitivity. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Building, maintaining, and operating the detector, detector characterisation and data analysis. |
| Impact | A working gravitational wave detector, development of advanced technology for advanced and third generation detectors. |
| Description | GEO600 |
| Organisation | University of Birmingham |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Detector characterisation and data analysis; strategic plans, scientific motivation for improving detector sensitivity. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Building, maintaining, and operating the detector, detector characterisation and data analysis. |
| Impact | A working gravitational wave detector, development of advanced technology for advanced and third generation detectors. |
| Description | GEO600 |
| Organisation | University of Glasgow |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Detector characterisation and data analysis; strategic plans, scientific motivation for improving detector sensitivity. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Building, maintaining, and operating the detector, detector characterisation and data analysis. |
| Impact | A working gravitational wave detector, development of advanced technology for advanced and third generation detectors. |
| Description | GEO600 |
| Organisation | University of the Balearic Islands |
| Country | Spain |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Detector characterisation and data analysis; strategic plans, scientific motivation for improving detector sensitivity. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Building, maintaining, and operating the detector, detector characterisation and data analysis. |
| Impact | A working gravitational wave detector, development of advanced technology for advanced and third generation detectors. |
| Description | GEO600 |
| Organisation | University of the West of Scotland |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Detector characterisation and data analysis; strategic plans, scientific motivation for improving detector sensitivity. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Building, maintaining, and operating the detector, detector characterisation and data analysis. |
| Impact | A working gravitational wave detector, development of advanced technology for advanced and third generation detectors. |
| Description | LIGO Scientific Collaboration |
| Organisation | LIGO Scientific Collaboration |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Search algorithms and software, data analysis and astrophysical interpretation, scientific motivation for improvement in detector sensitivity |
| Collaborator Contribution | Building, maintaining, and operating the LIGO detectors |
| Impact | Publications, conference plenaries, conference contributions |
| Title | Gravitational Wave Analysis Software |
| Description | Software to perform parameter estimation and model selection, especially (but not limited to) for gravitational waves emitted by merging black holes and neutron stars. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | Next generation software to be used by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration in the analysis of gravitational waves. |
| URL | https://lscsoft.docs.ligo.org/bilby/index.html |
| Description | Interview for national and international news |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Interview in both print media (BBC, The Guardian) and local TV (BBC Wales) on gravitational-wave analysis results. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57639520 https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jun/29/gravitational-waves-from-star-eating-black-holes-detected-on-earth |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57639520 |
| Description | Presentations at the Cardiff University Open Day |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presentations to prospective undergraduate students at the Cardiff University Open Day, Cardiff, UK. Title: Exploding stars, black holes and gravitational waves. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019,2020,2021,2022 |
| Description | Public outreach presentation at the Cardiff, Bristol and Bath Astronomical Societies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on gravitational-wave research titled "Stellar-size Black holes" at a joint event of the Bath, Bristol and Cardiff astronomical societies |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/extreme-stellar-environments-tickets-169977235487 |