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Authors: Vladimir Dergachev

Date: 10 Mar 2010

Abstract: We introduce a "loosely coherent" method for detection of continuous gravitational waves that bridges the gap between semi-coherent and purely coherent methods. Explicit control over accepted families of signals is used to increase sensitivity of power-based statistic while avoiding the high computational costs of conventional matched filters. Several examples as well as a prototype implementation are discussed.

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Authors: S. R. Kulkarni (Caltech), M. H. van Kerkwijk (Caltech, Toronto)

Date: 10 Mar 2010

Abstract: SDSS 1257+5428 is a white dwarf in a close orbit with a companion that has been suggested to be a neutron star. If so, it hosts the closest known neutron star, and its existence implies a great abundance of similar systems and a rate of white-dwarf neutron-star mergers similar to that of the type Ia supernova rate. Here, we present high signal-to-noise spectra of SDSS 1257+5428, which confirm an independent finding that the system is in fact composed of two white dwarfs, one relatively cool and with low mass, and the other hotter and more massive. With this, the demographics and merger rate are no longer puzzling (various factors combine to lower the latter by more than two orders of magnitude). We show that the spectra are fit well with a combination of two hydrogen model atmospheres, as long as the lines of the higher-gravity component are broadened significantly relative to what is expected from just pressure broadening. Interpreting this additional broadening as due to rotation, the inferred spin period is short, about 1 minute. Similarly rapid rotation is only seen in accreting white dwarfs that are magnetic; empirically, it appears that in non-magnetized white dwarfs, accreted angular momentum is lost by nova explosions before it can be transferred to the white dwarf. This suggests that the massive white dwarf in SDSS 1257+5428 is magnetic as well, with B~10ˆ5 G. Alternatively, the broadening seen in the spectral lines could be due to a stronger magnetic field, of ~10ˆ6 G. The two models could be distinguished by further observations.

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Authors: Reinabelle Reyes, Rachel Mandelbaum, Uros Seljak, Tobias Baldauf, James E. Gunn, Lucas Lombriser, Robert E. Smith

Date: 10 Mar 2010

Abstract: Although general relativity underlies modern cosmology, its applicability on cosmological length scales has yet to be stringently tested. Such a test has recently been proposed, using a quantity, EG, that combines measures of large-scale gravitational lensing, galaxy clustering and structure growth rate. The combination is insensitive to 'galaxy bias' (the difference between the clustering of visible galaxies and invisible dark matter) and is thus robust to the uncertainty in this parameter. Modified theories of gravity generally predict values of EG different from the general relativistic prediction because, in these theories, the 'gravitational slip' (the difference between the two potentials that describe perturbations in the gravitational metric) is non-zero, which leads to changes in the growth of structure and the strength of the gravitational lensing effect3. Here we report that EG = 0.39 +/- 0.06 on length scales of tens of megaparsecs, in agreement with the general relativistic prediction of EG $\approx$ 0.4. The measured value excludes a model within the tensor-vector-scalar gravity theory, which modifies both Newtonian and Einstein gravity. However, the relatively large uncertainty still permits models within f(R) theory, which is an extension of general relativity. A fivefold decrease in uncertainty is needed to rule out these models.

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Authors: Lawrence M. Krauss (1), Katherine Jones-Smith (2), Harsh Mathur (2), James Dent (1) ((1) Arizona State University (2) Case Western Reserve University)

Date: 8 Mar 2010

Abstract: We present a new signature by which to one could potentially discriminate between a spectrum of gravitational radiation generated by a self-ordering scalar field vs that of inflation, specifically a comparison of the magnitude of a flat spectrum at frequencies probed by future direct detection experiments to the magnitude of a possible polarization signal in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation. In the process we clarify several issues related to the proper calculation of such modes, focusing on the effect of post-horizon-crossing evolution.

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Authors: U.Sperhake, V.Cardoso, F.Pretorius, E.Berti, T.Hinderer, N.Yunes

Date: 3 Mar 2010

Abstract: We study gravitational wave emission, zoom-whirl behavior and the resulting spin of the remnant black hole in highly boosted collisions of equal-mass, non spinning black-hole binaries with generic impact parameter.

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Authors: Pranesh A. Sundararajan, Gaurav Khanna, Scott A. Hughes

Date: 2 Mar 2010

Abstract: Spectacular breakthroughs in numerical relativity now make it possible to compute spacetime dynamics in almost complete generality, allowing us to model the coalescence and merger of binary black holes with essentially no approximations. The primary limitation of these calculations is now computational. In particular, it is difficult to model systems with large mass ratio and large spins, since one must accurately resolve the multiple lengthscales which play a role in such systems. Perturbation theory can play an important role in extending the reach of computational modeling for binary systems. In this paper, we present first results of a code which allows us to model the gravitational waves generated by the inspiral, merger, and ringdown of a binary system in which one member of the binary is much more massive than the other. This allows us to accurately calibrate binary dynamics in the large mass ratio regime. We focus in this analysis on the recoil imparted to the merged remnant by these waves. We closely examine the "antikick", an anti-phase cancellation of the recoil arising from the plunge and ringdown waves, described in detail by Schnittman et al. We find that, for orbits aligned with the black hole spin, the antikick grows as a function of spin. The total recoil is smallest for prograde coalescence into a rapidly rotating black hole, and largest for retrograde coalescence. Amusingly, this completely reverses the predicted trend for kick versus spin from analyses that only include inspiral information.

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Authors: Tilman J. Rothe, Gerhard Schäfer

Date: 1 Mar 2010

Abstract: The recently constructed Hamiltonians for spinless binary black holes through third post-Newtonian order and for spinning ones through formal second post-Newtonian order, where the spins are counted of zero post-Newtonian order, are transformed into fully canonical center-of-mass and rest-frame variables. The mixture terms in the Hamiltonians between center-of-mass and rest-frame variables are in accordance with the relation between the total linear momentum and the center-of-mass velocity as demanded by global Lorentz invariance. The various generating functions for the center-of-mass and rest-frame canonical variables are explicitly given in terms of the single-particle canonical variables. The no-interaction theorem does not apply because the world-line condition of Lorentz covariant position variables is not imposed.

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Authors: Sebastiano Bernuzzi, Alessandro Nagar

Date: 2 Mar 2010

Abstract: Building up on previous work, we present a new calculation of the gravitational wave (GW) emission generated during the transition from quasi-circular inspiral to plunge, merger and ringdown by a binary system of nonspinning black holes, of masses $m_1$ and $m_2$, in the extreme mass ratio limit, $m_1 m_2\ll(m_1+m_2)ˆ2$. The relative dynamics of the system is computed {\it without making any adiabatic approximation} by using an effective one body (EOB) description, namely by representing the binary by an effective particle of mass $\mu=m_1 m_2/(m_1+m_2)$ moving in a (quasi-)Schwarzschild background of mass $M=m_1+m_2$ and submitted to an $\O(\nu)$ 5PN-resummed analytical radiation reaction force, with $\nu=\mu/M$. The gravitational wave emission is calculated via a multipolar Regge-Wheeler-Zerilli type perturbative approach (valid in the limit $\nu\ll 1$). We consider three mass ratios, $\nu={10ˆ{-2},10ˆ{-3},10ˆ{-4}}$,and we compute the multipolar waveform up to $\ell=8$. We estimate energy and angular momentum losses during the quasi-universal and quasi-geodesic part of the plunge phase and we analyze the structure of the ringdown. We calculate the gravitational recoil, or "kick", imparted to the merger remnant by the gravitational wave emission and we emphasize the importance of higher multipoles to get a final value of the recoil $v/(c\nuˆ2)=0.0446$. We finally show that there is an {\it excellent fractional agreement} ($\sim 10ˆ{-3}$) (even during the plunge) between the 5PN EOB analytically-resummed radiation reaction flux and the numerically computed gravitational wave angular momentum flux. This is a further confirmation of the aptitude of the EOB formalism to accurately model extreme-mass-ratio inspirals, as needed for the future space-based LISA gravitational wave detector.

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