As of today, we have directly detected exactly one source in both gravitational waves (GWs) and electromagnetic (EM) radiation, the binary neutron star merger GW170817, its associated gamma-ray burst GRB170817A, and the subsequent kilonova SSS17a/AT 2017gfo. Within ten years, we will detect hundreds of events, including new classes of events such as neutron-star-black-hole mergers, core-collapse supernovae, and almost certainly something completely unexpected. As we build this sample, we will explore exotic astrophysical topics ranging from nucleosynthesis, stellar evolution, general relativity, high-energy astrophysics, nuclear matter, to cosmology. The discovery potential is extraordinary, and investments in this area will yield major scientific breakthroughs. Here we outline some of the most exciting scientific questions that can be answered by combining GW and EM observations.

Einstein Telescope

Gravitational-wave astronomy

Kilonova

Black hole (networking)

Source

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Citations (1)

Effects of data quality vetoes on a search for compact binary coalescences in Advanced LIGO’s first observing run

Classical and Quantum Gravity (2018)

B. P. Abbott R. Abbott T. D. Abbott M. R. Abernathy F. Acernese

The first observing run of Advanced LIGO spanned 4 months, from September 12, 2015 to January 19, 2016, during which gravitational waves were directly detected from two binary black hole systems, namely GW150914 and GW151226. Confident detection of gravitational waves requires an understanding of instrumental transients and artifacts that can reduce the sensitivity of a search. Studies of the quality of the detector data yield insights into the cause of instrumental artifacts and data quality vetoes specific to a search are produced to mitigate the effects of problematic data. In this paper, the systematic removal of noisy data from analysis time is shown to improve the sensitivity of searches for compact binary coalescences. The output of the PyCBC pipeline, which is a python-based code package used to search for gravitational wave signals from compact binary coalescences, is used as a metric for improvement. GW150914 was a loud enough signal that removing noisy data did not improve its significance. However, the removal of data with excess noise decreased the false alarm rate of GW151226 by more than two orders of magnitude, from 1 in 770 years to less than 1 in 186000 years.

False alarm

10.1088/1361-6382/aaaafa

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Citations (119)

A DARK ENERGY CAMERA SEARCH FOR AN OPTICAL COUNTERPART TO THE FIRST ADVANCED LIGO GRAVITATIONAL WAVE EVENT GW150914

The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2016)

M. Soares-Santos R. Keßler E. Berger J. Annis Dillon Brout

ABSTRACT We report the results of a deep search for an optical counterpart to the gravitational wave (GW) event GW150914, the first trigger from the Advanced LIGO GW detectors. We used the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) to image a 102 deg 2 area, corresponding to 38% of the initial trigger high-probability sky region and to 11% of the revised high-probability region. We observed in the i and z bands at 4–5, 7, and 24 days after the trigger. The median 5 σ point-source limiting magnitudes of our search images are i = 22.5 and z = 21.8 mag. We processed the images through a difference-imaging pipeline using templates from pre-existing Dark Energy Survey data and publicly available DECam data. Due to missing template observations and other losses, our effective search area subtends 40 deg 2 , corresponding to a 12% total probability in the initial map and 3% in the final map. In this area, we search for objects that decline significantly between days 4–5 and day 7, and are undetectable by day 24, finding none to typical magnitude limits of i = 21.5, 21.1, 20.1 for object colors ( i − z ) = 1, 0, −1, respectively. Our search demonstrates the feasibility of a dedicated search program with DECam and bodes well for future research in this emerging field.

Limiting magnitude

10.3847/2041-8205/823/2/l33

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Citations (55)

SYSTEMATIC ERRORS IN LOW-LATENCY GRAVITATIONAL WAVE PARAMETER ESTIMATION IMPACT ELECTROMAGNETIC FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS

The Astrophysical Journal (2016)

T. B. Littenberg B. Farr S. B. Coughlin Vicky Kalogera

Among the most eagerly anticipated opportunities made possible by Advanced LIGO/Virgo are multimessenger observations of compact mergers. Optical counterparts may be short-lived so rapid characterization of gravitational wave (GW) events is paramount for discovering electromagnetic signatures. One way to meet the demand for rapid GW parameter estimation is to trade off accuracy for speed, using waveform models with simplified treatment of the compact objects' spin. We report on the systematic errors in GW parameter estimation suffered when using different spin approximations to recover generic signals. Component mass measurements can be biased by $>5\sigma$ using simple-precession waveforms and in excess of $20\sigma$ when non-spinning templates are employed. This suggests that electromagnetic observing campaigns should not take a strict approach to selecting which LIGO/Virgo candidates warrant follow-up observations based on low-latency mass estimates. For sky localization, we find searched areas are up to a factor of ${\sim}$2 larger for non-spinning analyses, and are systematically larger for any of the simplified waveforms considered in our analysis. Distance biases for the non-precessing waveforms can be in excess of 100\% and are largest when the spin angular momenta are in the orbital plane of the binary. We confirm that spin-aligned waveforms should be used for low-latency parameter estimation at the minimum. Including simple precession, though more computationally costly, mitigates biases except for signals with extreme precession effects. Our results shine a spotlight on the critical need for development of computationally inexpensive precessing waveforms and/or massively parallel algorithms for parameter estimation.

Precession

Sigma

10.3847/0004-637x/820/1/7

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Search for gravitational waves from intermediate mass binary black holes

Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D, Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology (2012)

J. Abadie B. P. Abbott R. Abbott T. D. Abbott M. R. Abernathy

We present the results of a weakly modeled burst search for gravitational waves from mergers of non-spinning intermediate mass black holes (IMBH) in the total mass range 100--450 solar masses and with the component mass ratios between 1:1 and 4:1. The search was conducted on data collected by the LIGO and Virgo detectors between November of 2005 and October of 2007. No plausible signals were observed by the search which constrains the astrophysical rates of the IMBH mergers as a function of the component masses. In the most efficiently detected bin centered on 88+88 solar masses, for non-spinning sources, the rate density upper limit is 0.13 per Mpc^3 per Myr at the 90% confidence level.

Solar mass

Mass ratio

10.1103/physrevd.85.102004

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Citations (53)

Estimating the Contribution of Dynamical Ejecta in the Kilonova Associated with GW170817

The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2017)

B. P. Abbott R. Abbott T. D. Abbott F. Acernese K. Ackley

Abstract The source of the gravitational-wave (GW) signal GW170817, very likely a binary neutron star merger, was also observed electromagnetically, providing the first multi-messenger observations of this type. The two-week-long electromagnetic (EM) counterpart had a signature indicative of an r -process-induced optical transient known as a kilonova. This Letter examines how the mass of the dynamical ejecta can be estimated without a direct electromagnetic observation of the kilonova, using GW measurements and a phenomenological model calibrated to numerical simulations of mergers with dynamical ejecta. Specifically, we apply the model to the binary masses inferred from the GW measurements, and use the resulting mass of the dynamical ejecta to estimate its contribution (without the effects of wind ejecta) to the corresponding kilonova light curves from various models. The distributions of dynamical ejecta mass range between for various equations of state, assuming that the neutron stars are rotating slowly. In addition, we use our estimates of the dynamical ejecta mass and the neutron star merger rates inferred from GW170817 to constrain the contribution of events like this to the r -process element abundance in the Galaxy when ejecta mass from post-merger winds is neglected. We find that if ≳10% of the matter dynamically ejected from binary neutron star (BNS) mergers is converted to r -process elements, GW170817-like BNS mergers could fully account for the amount of r -process material observed in the Milky Way.

Kilonova

10.3847/2041-8213/aa9478

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Citations (188)

COVID-19 ARTIC v4.1 Illumina library construction and sequencing protocol - tailed method v2

DNA Pipelines R D B. Farr Diana Rajan Emma Betteridge Lesley Shirley

This SOP describes the procedure for generating cDNA from SARS-CoV-2 viral nucleic acid extracts and subsequently producing 400nt amplicons tiling the viral genome using V4.1 nCov-2019 primers (ARTIC) in multiplex PCR. Illumina-compatible sequencing libraries are then made directly from these amplicons in a second PCR step, obviating the need for conventional library preparation. The products of these PCRs are then equivolume pooled and quantitated, prior to sequencing on the Illumina NovaSeq. It is an adaptation of the COVID-19 ARTIC v3 amplicon protocol which can be found here: https://www.protocols.io/view/covid-19-artic-v3-illumina-library-construction-an-bibtkann Both the above protocols were adapted from the nCov-2019 sequencing protocol: https://www.protocols.io/view/ncov-2019-sequencing-protocol-bbmuik6w

Amplicon

Amplicon sequencing

Illumina dye sequencing

10.17504/protocols.io.b4myqu7w

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Improvement of the electron beam (e-beam) lunar dust mitigation technology with varying the beam incident angle

Acta Astronautica (2021)

B. Farr Xu Wang J. Goree Inseob Hahn Ulf Israelsson

10.1016/j.actaastro.2021.07.040

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Citations (11)