Gravitational wave science at the University of Birmingham
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Most of our knowledge about the Universe at large has been derived from what scientists refer to as "electromagnetic radiation" - ranging from radio waves through infrared radiation and light, to X-rays and gamma rays. This has changed dramatically on September 14, 2015 when we directly detected for the first time ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves. The observational of the first gravitational-wave signal (GW150914) generated by the collision of two black holes has opened a new chapter in astronomy.
We have discovered binary black holes, and learnt that every 15 minutes somewhere in the Universe two `heavy' stellar-mass black holes collide. In fact, since September 2015 we have observed several tens of collisions of this kind, including a system of 150 times the mass of the Sun, the first observation of what astronomers refer to as an intermediate mass black hole.
On August 17, 2017 we observed GW170817, the first merger of a binary neutron star. Electro-magnetic radiation generated in the aftermath of the collision of the two neutron stars was then detected across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from gamma-rays to radio waves, in one of the most intense observational campaigns of a single object in the history of astronomy. This first multi-messenger observation has demonstrated that double neutron star mergers are the engine powering short-hard gamma ray bursts and an important site for production of heavy elements, such as gold and platinum, in the Universe.
The Birmingham group has played a key role in the development of the gravitational-wave instruments (Advanced LIGO) that enabled these discoveries, the analysis of the data, the characterisation of the properties of the sources, and the follow-up observational campaign of GW170817. We are now working on producing improved hardware for the Advanced LIGO upgrade (A+) which will increase the volume of the universe we can probe by a factor of ten, and on even more audacious technologies for more radical upgrades and new facilities for the next decade.
In the coming years we expect to be able to observe a gravitational-wave signal every day. We are preparing to use these signals from merging black holes and neutron stars to learn more about the evolution of these objects, stars, matter in extreme conditions, and to test our understanding of gravity itself. The advanced technology which we are investigating will make future improvements to gravitational-wave observatories, so that much weaker signals can be observed and studied.
We have discovered binary black holes, and learnt that every 15 minutes somewhere in the Universe two `heavy' stellar-mass black holes collide. In fact, since September 2015 we have observed several tens of collisions of this kind, including a system of 150 times the mass of the Sun, the first observation of what astronomers refer to as an intermediate mass black hole.
On August 17, 2017 we observed GW170817, the first merger of a binary neutron star. Electro-magnetic radiation generated in the aftermath of the collision of the two neutron stars was then detected across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from gamma-rays to radio waves, in one of the most intense observational campaigns of a single object in the history of astronomy. This first multi-messenger observation has demonstrated that double neutron star mergers are the engine powering short-hard gamma ray bursts and an important site for production of heavy elements, such as gold and platinum, in the Universe.
The Birmingham group has played a key role in the development of the gravitational-wave instruments (Advanced LIGO) that enabled these discoveries, the analysis of the data, the characterisation of the properties of the sources, and the follow-up observational campaign of GW170817. We are now working on producing improved hardware for the Advanced LIGO upgrade (A+) which will increase the volume of the universe we can probe by a factor of ten, and on even more audacious technologies for more radical upgrades and new facilities for the next decade.
In the coming years we expect to be able to observe a gravitational-wave signal every day. We are preparing to use these signals from merging black holes and neutron stars to learn more about the evolution of these objects, stars, matter in extreme conditions, and to test our understanding of gravity itself. The advanced technology which we are investigating will make future improvements to gravitational-wave observatories, so that much weaker signals can be observed and studied.
Publications
Gerosa D
(2021)
A generalized precession parameter ? p to interpret gravitational-wave data
in Physical Review D
Gompertz B
(2023)
A multimessenger model for neutron star-black hole mergers
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Thomas L
(2022)
Accelerating multimodal gravitational waveforms from precessing compact binaries with artificial neural networks
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2021)
All-sky search in early O3 LIGO data for continuous gravitational-wave signals from unknown neutron stars in binary systems
in Physical Review D
Williams D
(2023)
Asimov: A framework for coordinating parameter estimation workflows
in Journal of Open Source Software
Pratten G
(2021)
Assessing gravitational-wave binary black hole candidates with Bayesian odds
in Physical Review D
Ganapathy D
(2023)
Broadband Quantum Enhancement of the LIGO Detectors with Frequency-Dependent Squeezing
in Physical Review X
De Renzis V
(2022)
Characterization of merging black holes with two precessing spins
De Renzis V
(2022)
Characterization of merging black holes with two precessing spins
in Physical Review D
Gompertz B
(2022)
Constraints on compact binary merger evolution from spin-orbit misalignment in gravitational-wave observations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Abbott R
(2023)
Constraints on the Cosmic Expansion History from GWTC-3
in The Astrophysical Journal
Utina A
(2022)
ETpathfinder: a cryogenic testbed for interferometric gravitational-wave detectors
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Ghosh S
(2024)
First frequency-domain phenomenological model of the multipole asymmetry in gravitational-wave signals from binary-black-hole coalescence
in Physical Review D
Hannam M
(2022)
General-relativistic precession in a black-hole binary
in Nature
Phukon K
(2025)
Geometric template bank for the detection of spinning low-mass compact binaries with moderate orbital eccentricity
in Physical Review D
Zhang T
(2023)
Gravitational-Wave Detector for Postmerger Neutron Stars: Beyond the Quantum Loss Limit of the Fabry-Perot-Michelson Interferometer
in Physical Review X
Abbott R
(2023)
GWTC-3: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo during the Second Part of the Third Observing Run
in Physical Review X
Pratten G
(2022)
Impact of Dynamical Tides on the Reconstruction of the Neutron Star Equation of State.
in Physical review letters
Steinle N
(2023)
Implications of pulsar timing array observations for LISA detections of massive black hole binaries
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bonino A
(2023)
Inferring eccentricity evolution from observations of coalescing binary black holes
in Physical Review D
Pratten G
(2023)
LISA science performance in observations of short-lived signals from massive black hole binary coalescences
in Physical Review D
Bonino A
(2024)
Mapping eccentricity evolutions between numerical relativity and effective-one-body gravitational waveforms
in Physical Review D
Leslie N
(2021)
Mode-by-mode relative binning: Fast likelihood estimation for gravitational waveforms with spin-orbit precession and multiple harmonics
in Physical Review D
Thomas L
(2021)
New effective precession spin for modeling multimodal gravitational waveforms in the strong-field regime
in Physical Review D
Colleoni M
(2025)
New gravitational waveform model for precessing binary neutron stars with double-spin effects
in Physical Review D
Abac A
(2024)
Observation of Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of a 2.5-4.5 M ? Compact Object and a Neutron Star
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Abbott R
(2023)
Open Data from the Third Observing Run of LIGO, Virgo, KAGRA, and GEO
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Mukherjee S
(2024)
Phenomenological gravitational waveform model of binary black holes incorporating horizon fluxes
in Physical Review D
Thompson J
(2024)
Phenomenological gravitational-wave model for precessing black-hole binaries with higher multipoles and asymmetries
in Physical Review D
Williams N
(2024)
Phenomenological model of gravitational self-force enhanced tides in inspiraling binary neutron stars
in Physical Review D
Pratten G
(2023)
Precision tracking of massive black hole spin evolution with LISA
in Physical Review D
Pratten G
(2023)
Precision tracking of massive black hole spin evolution with LISA
Williams N
(2022)
Prospects for distinguishing dynamical tides in inspiralling binary neutron stars with third generation gravitational-wave detectors
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2023)
Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with Fast Radio Bursts Detected by CHIME/FRB during the LIGO-Virgo Observing Run O3a
in The Astrophysical Journal
Cooper SJ
(2023)
Sensors and actuators for the advanced LIGO A+ upgrade.
in The Review of scientific instruments
Jia W
(2024)
Squeezing the quantum noise of a gravitational-wave detector below the standard quantum limit.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Swain S
(2025)
Strong field scattering of black holes: Assessing resummation strategies
in Physical Review D
Rettegno P
(2023)
Strong-field scattering of two spinning black holes: Numerical relativity versus post-Minkowskian gravity
in Physical Review D
Nicholl M
(2021)
Tight multimessenger constraints on the neutron star equation of state from GW170817 and a forward model for kilonova light-curve synthesis
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
| Description | GEO Collaboration |
| Organisation | Max Planck Society |
| Department | Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Data analysis and instrumental development |
| Collaborator Contribution | Data analysis and instrumental development |
| Impact | Many papers, technology developments, and outreach events |
| Description | GEO Collaboration |
| Organisation | University of Glasgow |
| Department | Physics and Astronomy Department |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Data analysis and instrumental development |
| Collaborator Contribution | Data analysis and instrumental development |
| Impact | Many papers, technology developments, and outreach events |