Exploring the Gravitational-wave Universe
Lead Research Organisation:
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
The era of gravitational-wave (GW) astronomy began in 2015 with LIGO's detection of the binary black-hole merger event GW150914, at the time the most energetic event ever observed by humanity. The announcement of this spectacular event generated headlines worldwide and led to the award of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics. More detections followed, including the now-famous binary neutron star merger event GW170817 associated with GRB170817A - the first multi-messenger gravitational-wave event. To date LIGO and VIRGO have published the details of 15 high-confidence detections and released public alerts for more than 50 additional candidate signals.
Cardiff University researchers in the Gravity Exploration Institute (GEI) have made critical contributions to these detections and to the opening of the gravitational-wave sky. Together, the research of the GEI spans the entire breadth of gravitational-wave astronomy, from fundamental research into instruments, the modelling, detection and interpretation of events, and implications for fundamental physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. The GEI has grown to become the fourth largest group in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), and our members provide leadership through a number of key strategic roles.
We propose an ambitious programme that will have impacts across the breadth of gravitational-wave astronomy. This includes the development of advanced technology for future detectors, the creation of the most accurate state-of-the-art models for binary black hole signals, cutting edge techniques for real-time analysis of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA data, fast and accurate characterisation of sources, and mapping gravitational-wave observations into new insights into astrophysics, cosmology, and fundamental physics.
Our experimental program focuses on technologies critical for upgrades to the current LIGO detectors and for next-generation observatories. We will increase the detector up-time and data quality by improving the seismic feedback control systems and implementing real time adaptive controls. We will develop lower-loss methods to reduce the noise in LIGO below the standard quantum limit and explore how co-located interferometers may further improve sensitivity. And we will pave the way for next-generation cryogenic detectors by building an input-output optics prototype operating at longer wavelengths, requiring the exploration of new lasers and optics.
Our modelling, analysis, and astrophysics programme will benefit from synergy between the projects, yielding more precise source characterisation and astrophysical interpretations.
We will perform the deepest analysis of the LIGO-Virgo data for gravitational-wave counterparts to gamma-ray bursts like GRB170817A. We will push the limits of multi-messenger astronomy by using machine learning techniques to detect generic transient signals such as supernovae, binary mergers, and accretion disk instabilities with sub-second latencies, enabling follow-up observations to catch the earliest electromagnetic emissions from these events.
The ever increasing detection rates will allow us to explore further across the parameter space of compact binaries populations, including more rare events, but also require ever faster means of characterising detected signals. We will develop semi-analytical tools to provide an intuitive understanding of parameter estimation, allowing the prompt identification of exceptional events.
We will implement complete, accurate, and fast inference techniques pioneered at Cardiff and apply then to infer neutron star equation of state. We will further develop tools to infer astrophysical populations from our observations and provide real-time updates to population models.
Finally, we will compare the observed populations with astrophysical formation scenarios, exploiting the unprecedented data set and physically motivated models of binary populations, to infer the origins of gravitational waves.
Cardiff University researchers in the Gravity Exploration Institute (GEI) have made critical contributions to these detections and to the opening of the gravitational-wave sky. Together, the research of the GEI spans the entire breadth of gravitational-wave astronomy, from fundamental research into instruments, the modelling, detection and interpretation of events, and implications for fundamental physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. The GEI has grown to become the fourth largest group in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), and our members provide leadership through a number of key strategic roles.
We propose an ambitious programme that will have impacts across the breadth of gravitational-wave astronomy. This includes the development of advanced technology for future detectors, the creation of the most accurate state-of-the-art models for binary black hole signals, cutting edge techniques for real-time analysis of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA data, fast and accurate characterisation of sources, and mapping gravitational-wave observations into new insights into astrophysics, cosmology, and fundamental physics.
Our experimental program focuses on technologies critical for upgrades to the current LIGO detectors and for next-generation observatories. We will increase the detector up-time and data quality by improving the seismic feedback control systems and implementing real time adaptive controls. We will develop lower-loss methods to reduce the noise in LIGO below the standard quantum limit and explore how co-located interferometers may further improve sensitivity. And we will pave the way for next-generation cryogenic detectors by building an input-output optics prototype operating at longer wavelengths, requiring the exploration of new lasers and optics.
Our modelling, analysis, and astrophysics programme will benefit from synergy between the projects, yielding more precise source characterisation and astrophysical interpretations.
We will perform the deepest analysis of the LIGO-Virgo data for gravitational-wave counterparts to gamma-ray bursts like GRB170817A. We will push the limits of multi-messenger astronomy by using machine learning techniques to detect generic transient signals such as supernovae, binary mergers, and accretion disk instabilities with sub-second latencies, enabling follow-up observations to catch the earliest electromagnetic emissions from these events.
The ever increasing detection rates will allow us to explore further across the parameter space of compact binaries populations, including more rare events, but also require ever faster means of characterising detected signals. We will develop semi-analytical tools to provide an intuitive understanding of parameter estimation, allowing the prompt identification of exceptional events.
We will implement complete, accurate, and fast inference techniques pioneered at Cardiff and apply then to infer neutron star equation of state. We will further develop tools to infer astrophysical populations from our observations and provide real-time updates to population models.
Finally, we will compare the observed populations with astrophysical formation scenarios, exploiting the unprecedented data set and physically motivated models of binary populations, to infer the origins of gravitational waves.
Organisations
Publications
Abbott R
(2021)
Constraints from LIGO O3 Data on Gravitational-wave Emission Due to R-modes in the Glitching Pulsar PSR J0537-6910
in The Astrophysical Journal
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
Tiwari V
(2021)
The Emergence of Structure in the Binary Black Hole Mass Distribution
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Hoy C
(2021)
PESummary: The code agnostic Parameter Estimation Summary page builder
in SoftwareX
Abbott R
(2021)
Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with Gamma-Ray Bursts Detected by Fermi and Swift during the LIGO-Virgo Run O3a
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott R
(2021)
Tests of general relativity with binary black holes from the second LIGO-Virgo gravitational-wave transient catalog
in Physical Review D
Abbott B
(2021)
Erratum: "Searches for Continuous Gravitational Waves from 15 Supernova Remnants and Fomalhaut b with Advanced LIGO" (2019, ApJ, 875, 122) *
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott B
(2021)
Erratum: "A Gravitational-wave Measurement of the Hubble Constant Following the Second Observing Run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo" (2021, ApJ, 909, 218)
in The Astrophysical Journal
Davis D.
(2021)
LIGO Detector Characterization in the Second and Third Observing Runs
in arXiv e-prints
Abbott R
(2021)
Constraints on Cosmic Strings Using Data from the Third Advanced LIGO-Virgo Observing Run.
in Physical review letters
Davis D
(2021)
LIGO detector characterization in the second and third observing runs
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Abbott R
(2021)
Searches for Continuous Gravitational Waves from Young Supernova Remnants in the Early Third Observing Run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott R
(2021)
Search for anisotropic gravitational-wave backgrounds using data from Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo's first three observing runs
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2021)
All-sky search for short gravitational-wave bursts in the third Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo run
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2021)
Diving below the Spin-down Limit: Constraints on Gravitational Waves from the Energetic Young Pulsar PSR J0537-6910
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Aasi J
(2021)
Erratum: "Searches for Continuous Gravitational Waves from Nine Young Supernova Remnants" (2015, ApJ, 813, 39) *
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hamilton, Eleanor
(2021)
Model of gravitational waves from precessing black-hole binaries through merger and ringdown
Mills C
(2021)
Measuring gravitational-wave higher-order multipoles
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2021)
Upper limits on the isotropic gravitational-wave background from Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo's third observing run
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2021)
GWTC-2: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo during the First Half of the Third Observing Run
in Physical Review X
Collaboration T
(2021)
Constraints on cosmic strings using data from the third Advanced LIGO-Virgo observing run
in arXiv e-prints
Valiante R
(2021)
Unveiling early black hole growth with multifrequency gravitational wave observations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Collaboration T
(2021)
Upper Limits on the Isotropic Gravitational-Wave Background from Advanced LIGO's and Advanced Virgo's Third Observing Run
in arXiv e-prints
Abbott R
(2021)
Population Properties of Compact Objects from the Second LIGO-Virgo Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Hamilton E
(2021)
Model of gravitational waves from precessing black-hole binaries through merger and ringdown
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2021)
Observation of Gravitational Waves from Two Neutron Star-Black Hole Coalescences
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Vermeulen S
(2021)
Direct limits for scalar field dark matter from a gravitational-wave detector
in Nature
Abbott R
(2021)
All-sky search for long-duration gravitational-wave bursts in the third Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo run
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2021)
Search for Lensing Signatures in the Gravitational-Wave Observations from the First Half of LIGO-Virgo's Third Observing Run
in The Astrophysical Journal
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
Rich Abbott
(2021)
Open data from the first and second observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
in SoftwareX
Hannam M
(2021)
General-relativistic precession in a black-hole binary
Abbott R
(2021)
All-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from isolated neutron stars in the early O3 LIGO data
in Physical Review D
Tiwari V
(2021)
Exploring Features in the Binary Black Hole Population
Abbott R
(2022)
Search for intermediate-mass black hole binaries in the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Abbott R
(2022)
All-sky search for gravitational wave emission from scalar boson clouds around spinning black holes in LIGO O3 data
in Physical Review D
Belczynski K
(2022)
Black Hole-Black Hole Total Merger Mass and the Origin of LIGO/Virgo Sources
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott R
(2022)
Search of the early O3 LIGO data for continuous gravitational waves from the Cassiopeia A and Vela Jr. supernova remnants
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2022)
Narrowband Searches for Continuous and Long-duration Transient Gravitational Waves from Known Pulsars in the LIGO-Virgo Third Observing Run
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott R
(2022)
Search for Subsolar-Mass Binaries in the First Half of Advanced LIGO's and Advanced Virgo's Third Observing Run.
in Physical review letters
Abbott R
(2022)
All-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from isolated neutron stars using Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo O3 data
in Physical Review D
Relton P
(2022)
Addressing the challenges of detecting time-overlapping compact binary coalescences
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2022)
Model-based Cross-correlation Search for Gravitational Waves from the Low-mass X-Ray Binary Scorpius X-1 in LIGO O3 Data
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Chattopadhyay D
(2022)
Modelling the formation of the first two neutron star-black hole mergers, GW200105 and GW200115: metallicity, chirp masses, and merger remnant spins
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society