引力波数据分析

以引力波探测为基础的引力波天文学是一门正在崛起的新兴交叉学科,它是继以电磁辐射为探测手段的传统天文学之后,人类观测宇宙的一个新窗口,对研究宇宙的起源和演化,拓展天文学的研究领域都有极其重要的意义。激光干涉引力波探测器的出现,更开辟了引力波探测的新纪元。引力波数据处理与分析已在世界各地迅速发展起来,为引力波天文学的研究提供了锐利的武器。系统地介绍了引力波数据分析中常用的工具软件,详细讨论了时间-频率分析、复合分析法、脉冲星计时分析法、匹配过滤器、模板、χ~2检验、蒙特卡罗模拟等引力波数据分析中使用的基本方法。     

空间激光干涉引力波探测与早期宇宙结构形成

空间引力波探测是研究宇宙早期恒星演化和星系形成、黑洞和星系的共同成长等天文学和宇宙学重大问题的一条重要可能途径。经过两期科学院先导科技专项空间科学预研究课题的开展,通过权衡技术的可行性与科学的前瞻性,选择以高红移开始的中至大质量双黑洞并合系统、星团等稠密动力学环境中涉及中等质量黑洞的双黑洞引力波波源为主要科学目标,给出了我国毫赫兹至赫兹频段空间引力波探测任务计划的初步设计。以该任务设计建议为依据,简要介绍空间引力波探测及其作为一种新的天文观测手段的科学内涵,以及我国空间引力波探测任务设计的科学目标和探测潜力。     

引力波、引力波源和引力波探测实验

引力波是爱因斯坦和其他物理学家提出的关于广义相对论的四大预言之一。除了PSR1 91 3 + 1 6引力辐射阻尼的观测提供了引力波存在的间接证据外 ,科学家至今仍没有在实验室中确证引力波的存在。由于人类目前的技术水平还不可能在实验室中产生强度可供探测的引力波 ,而宇宙中存在大量大质量、高速运动的天体 ,有可能产生较强的引力波 ,天体引力波源自然成为现阶段科学家研究引力波的首选。本文介绍广义相对论框架下预言的引力波性质 ,引力波探测的理论依据 ,共振型棒式天线和激光干涉仪两大类探测器的基本原理 ,引力波探测实验的现状和面临的困难 ,科学家采取的对策 ,以及爆发型和连续型两类天体引力波源。最后介绍了正在计划中的几个引力波探测空间实验     

引力波、引力波源和引力波探测实验

引力波是爱因斯坦和其他物理学家提出的关于广义相对论的四大预言之一。除了PSR1913＋16引力辐射阻尼的观测提供了引力波存在的间接证据外，科学家至今仍没有在实验室中确证引力波的存在。由于人类目前的技术水平还不可能在实验室中产生强度可供探测的引力波，而宇宙中存在大量大质量，高速运动的天体，有可能产生较强的引力波，天体引力波源自然成为现阶段科学家研究引力波的首选。本文介绍广义相对论框架下预言的引力波性质，引力波探测的理论依据，共振型棒式天线和激光干涉仪两大类探测器的基本原理，引力波探测实验的现状和面临的困难，科学家采取的对策，以及爆发型和连续型两类天体引力波源。最后介绍了正在计划中的几个引力波探测空间实验。     

引力波和引力波望远镜的发展

简要回顾了广义相对论中相关的引力波理论，讨论了对引力波进行探测的重要意义和几种可能的途径；系统介绍了近50年来国际上对引力波进行探测的主要活动，以及当前几个具有代表性的引力波望远镜工程的进展。     

时空的圆舞曲引力波

2015年9月14日,美国激光干涉引力波天文台(LIGO)捕捉到了距离地球13亿光年外的一对双黑洞并合产生的引力波信号(GW150914)。经过长达数月的数据分析,LIGO团队确证了激光干涉仪在该引力波信号穿过时产生的大约是一亿亿分之一厘米尺度的振荡变化,并于2016年2月11日对外公布了这项惊人发现。这是人类首次直接探测到爱因斯坦广义相对论预言的引力波信号,并证实了双黑洞的存在。引力波探测器为探测宇宙提供了不同于电磁波(光)的全新方法,现在我们不仅能用望远镜“看”缤纷多彩的宇宙,还能用引力波探测器“听”波澜壮阔的宇宙。2017年的诺贝尔物理学奖也因此颁给了对引力波探测作出杰出贡献的三位物理学家:雷纳·韦斯(Rainer Weiss)、基普·索恩(Kip Stephen Thorne)和巴里·巴里什(Barry Clark Barish)。     

引力波与引力波源

引力波爆发事件GW150914的发现,标志着引力波天文学时代的到来,它为人类打开了全新的窗口来研究强引力场、极致密天体、极高能过程、极早期宇宙等极端物理过程和现象。介绍广义相对论中引力波的基本性质、观测效应以及主要的产生机制。并着重介绍宇宙中的几类比较重要的引力波源的主要性质、探测方法,以及探测现状和未来展望。具体包括:旋转的中子星、稳定的双星系统等连续的引力波源,超新星爆发、双星并合等爆发式的引力波源,以及天体物理过程和宇宙暴胀产生的随机引力波背景。     

世界引力波探测网的现状

引力波是广义相对论的重要推论之一,迄今为止尚未被直接探测到。上世纪末共振棒引力波探测网曾联合运行.历经十余年的努力,世界激光干涉引力波探测网已经初步形成。今后一、两年将会同步运行。最新的关于中子双星的天文观测和分析给引力波探测带来了希望。     

双黑洞系统的不同起源及其参数分布

双黑洞组成的近密双星系统并合是激光干涉仪引力波天文台等地基引力波探测器的主要探测对象。随着探测器灵敏度的提高,大量该类信号的探测将成为进一步研究黑洞物理的有效工具。但是目前对双黑洞系统的起源机制和内禀参数分布等物理问题的研究还不够深入,例如由引力波探测得到的黑洞质量分布与X射线双星观测的结果存在较大差异,还未有很好的理论模型可解释该结果。目前普遍认为双黑洞系统主要有两种起源:大质量双星演化机制和动力学起源机制。基于这两类起源的双黑洞系统在质量、自旋分布等方面存在差异。因此可在贝叶斯理论框架下,利用引力波信号携带的波源质量和自旋等信息,推断波源起源,计算不同起源的双黑洞系统所占比例,以及检验质量自旋等参数分布的差异。     

千新星(并合新星)研究回顾

中子星-中子星或中子星-黑洞的并合可以导致强烈的高频引力波辐射,同时它们也可以通过向外抛射物质发出多种类型的电磁辐射信号,因而是当前多信使天文学研究的主要对象之一.在各种电磁辐射信号中,由抛射物所发出的热暂现源辐射被称为千新星,或可更广义地称为并合新星,其辐射能量来源主要是抛射物中放射性重元素的衰变和中心并合产物的持续能量输出(如自转能损).这种现象最早由Li和Paczynski在1998年从理论上预言提出,并最终在2017年的引力波事件GW170817中被观测证实.千新星(并合新星)观测在GW170817事件中发挥了关键性的电磁对应体作用,帮助人们精确定位引力波信号、证认其天体物理起源乃至限制并合产物的性质.从宇宙中重元素的起源这一研究背景出发,循着历史发展的脉络,分别对千新星(并合新星)模型的提出、发展、并合产物的性质、相关候选体的发现以及GW170817引力波事件等不同的研究阶段和研究专题进行简要的回顾,以梳理这一方向上研究思路的历史变迁,展现理论和观测的相互作用及其对研究进程的影响和促进.     

Gravitational Radiation from Fluctuations in Rotating Neutron Stars

Undamped quasiradial fluctuations of rotating neutron stars and the gravitation radiation generated by them are discussed. Two possible sources of energy for maintaining these fluctuations are mentioned: the energy of deformation of the decelerating neutron star (spin down) and the energy released during a jump in the star's angular velocity (glitch). Expressions are derived for the intensity of the gravitational radiation and the amplitude of a plane gravitational wave for an earthbound observer. Estimates of these quantities are obtained for the Vela and Crab pulsars, for which the secular variation in the angular velocity is most often accompanied by irregular variations. It is shown that gravitational waves from these pulsars could be detected by the new generation of detectors.     

Merging strangeon stars

The state of supranuclear matter in compact stars remains puzzling, and it is argued that pulsars could be strangeon stars. What would happen if binary strangeon stars merge? This kind of merger could result in the formation of a hyper-massive strangeon star, accompanied by bursts of gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation(and even a strangeon kilonova explained in the paper). The tidal polarizability of binary strangeon stars is different from that of binary neutron stars, because a strangeon star is self-bound on the surface by the fundamental strong force while a neutron star by the gravity, and their equations of state are different. Our calculation shows that the tidal polarizability of merging binary strangeon stars is favored by GW170817. Three kinds of kilonovae(i.e., of neutron, quark and strangeon) are discussed, and the light curve of the kilonova AT 2017 gfo following GW170817 could be explained by considering the decaying strangeon nuggets and remnant star spin-down. Additionally,the energy ejected to the fireball around the nascent remnant strangeon star, being manifested as a gamma-ray burst, is calculated. It is found that, after a prompt burst, an X-ray plateau could follow in a timescale of 10~2-10~3 s. Certainly, the results could be tested also by further observational synergies between gravitational wave detectors(e.g., Advanced LIGO) and X-ray telescopes(e.g., the Chinese HXMT satellite and e XTP mission), and especially if the detected gravitational wave form is checked by peculiar equations of state provided by the numerical relativistical simulation.     

Gravitational Waves and Gravitational-wave Sourcestwo

The recent discovery of gravitational-wave burst GW150914 marks the coming of a new era of gravitational-wave astronomy, which provides a new window to study the physics of strong gravitational field, extremely massive stars, extremely high energy processes, and extremely early universe. In this article, we introduce the basic characters of gravitational waves in the Einstein's general relativity, their observational effects and main generation mechanisms, including the rotation of neutron stars, evolution of binary systems, and spontaneous generation in the inflation universe. Different sources produce the gravitational waves at quite different frequencies, which can be detected by different methods. In the lowest frequency range (f < 10^?15 Hz), the detection is mainly dependent of the observation of B-mode polarization of cosmic microwave background radiation. In the middle frequency range (10^?9 < f < 10^?6 Hz), the gravitational waves are detected by analyzing the timing residuals of millisecond pulsars. And in the high frequency range (10 ? 4 < f < 10⁴ Hz), they can be detected by the space-based and ground-based laser interferometers. In particular, we focus on the main features, detection methods, detection status, and the future prospects for several important sources, including the continuous sources (e.g., the spinning neutron stars, and stable binary systems), the burst sources (e.g., the supernovae, and the merge of binary system), and the stochastic backgrounds generated by the astrophysical and cosmological process. In addition, we forecast the potential breakthroughs in gravitational-wave astronomy in the near future, and the Chinese projects which might involve in these discoveries.     

Fast and accurate computational tools for gravitational waveforms from binary stars with any orbital eccentricity

The relevance of orbital eccentricity in the detection of gravitational radiation from (steady state) binary stars is emphasized. Computationally effective (fast and accurate) tools for constructing gravitational wave templates from binary stars with any orbital eccentricity are introduced including tight estimation criteria of the pertinent truncation and approximation errors.     

Gravitational wave detection through microlensing?

It is shown that accurate photometric observations of a relatively high-magnification microlensing event  ( A ≫ 1)  , occurring close to the line of sight of a gravitational wave (GW) source, represented by a binary star, can allow the detection of subtle gravitational effects. After reviewing the physical nature of such effects, it is discussed to what extent these phenomena can actually be caused by GWs. Expressions for the amplitude of the phenomena and the detection probability are supplied.     

Gravitational radiation from approaching neutron stars and the rotational explosion mechanism for collapsing supernovae

We consider the evolution of a neutron star binary system under the effect of two factors: gravitational radiation and mass transfer between the components. Gravitational radiation is specified under the justified assumption of a circular orbit and point masses and in the approximation of a weak gravitational field at nonrelativistic velocities of the binary components. During the first evolutionary phase determined only by gravitational radiation, the neutron stars approach each other according to a simple analytical solution. The second evolutionary phase begins at the time of Roche-lobe filling by the low-mass component, when the second factor, mass transfer as a result of mass loss by the latter, also begins to affect the evolution. Under the simplest assumptions of conservative mass transfer and exact equality between the Roche-lobe radius and the radius of the low-mass neutron star, it is still possible to extend the analytical solution of the problem of evolution to its second phase. We present this complete solution at both phases and, in particular, give theoretical light curves of gravitational radiation that depend only on two dimensionless parameters (m _t and δ ₀). Based on the solution found, we analyze the theoretical gravitational signals from SN 1987A; this analysis includes the hypothesis about the rotational explosion mechanism for collapsing supernovae.     

Dark Matter Objects: Possible New Source of Gravitational Waves

Gravitational waves from mergers of black holes and neutron stars are now being detected by LIGO. Here we look at a new source of gravitational waves, i.e., a class of dark matter objects whose properties were earlier elaborated. We show that the frequency of gravitational waves and strains on the detectors from such objects (including their mergers) could be within the sensitivity range of LIGO. The gravitational waves from the possible mergers of these dark matter objects will be different from those produced by neutron star mergers in the sense that they will not be accompanied by electromagnetic radiation since dark matter does not couple with radiation.

     

Proposed searches for candidate sources of gravitational waves in a nearby core-collapse supernova survey

Gravitational wave bursts in the formation of neutron stars and black holes in energetic core-collapse supernovae (CC-SNe) are of potential interest to LIGO-Virgo and KAGRA. Events nearby are readily discovered using moderately sized telescopes. CC-SNe are competitive with mergers of neutron stars and black holes, if the fraction producing an energetic output in gravitational waves exceeds about 1%. This opportunity motivates the design of a novel Sejong University Core-CollapsE Supernova Survey (SUCCESS), to provide triggers for follow-up searches for gravitational waves. It is based on the 76 cm Sejong university telescope (SUT) for weekly monitoring of nearby star-forming galaxies, i.e., M51, M81-M82 and blue dwarf galaxies from the unified nearby galaxy catalog with an expected yield of a few hundred per year. Optical light curves will be resolved for the true time-of-onset for probes of gravitational waves by broadband time-sliced matched filtering.