Gravitational Waves from Compact Objects

Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX

Investigators

Abstract

The General Theory of Relativity discovered by Einstein tells us that the familiar, everyday force of gravity is a manifestation of something much stranger: the bending of the geometry of space-time by matter. Among the key predictions of the theory, which includes the expanding Universe and the existence of black holes, is the existence of gravitational waves (GW): ripples moving at the speed of light in the geometry of space-time caused by the fast motion of large masses. Although well tested in terms of their indirect effects on binary systems of compact stars, the direct detection of gravitational waves incident on Earth poses an outstanding challenge. The scientific rewards from achieving this ability would be enormous - ranging from probing the extreme dynamics of exploding stars to gleaning information about the state of the Universe almost at the moment of the Big Bang itself. The effort to enable this new window on the universe has occupied several decades of experimental and technological developments that have pushed the boundaries across diverse fields in the physical sciences. The year 2015 will mark a highly-anticipated watershed moment for gravitational-wave physics: The two advanced Laser Interferomenter Gravitational Wave Observatory (aLIGO) detectors will start their initial data taking runs, followed by the commissioning of the advanced Virgo gravitational wave observatory in Europe. The sensitivity of the aLIGO detector will be ramped up to become about ten times better than that of the first-generation detectors, opening up a spatial volume for observing GW sources that will be 1000 times larger than before. This award supports the first searches of Advanced LIGO data for gravitational waves from the youngest neutron stars in the galaxy. As they spin down over the years, these stars can tell us about the properties of matter under the most extreme conditions since the Big Bang: supernuclear densities, relativistic speeds, superconducting and superfluid at a hundred million degrees. One day they may also be used to test whether Einstein's general theory of relativity is the correct description of gravity at astrophysical scales. The bulk of the work involves the upgrade and implementation of a data analysis code pipeline to perform matched filtering searches for continuous gravitational waves from young supernova remnants. Improvements in the code and data will allow more sensitive searches than ever before. This code will also be adapted for the purpose of detector characterization to assist with improving the LIGO interferometers' performance over the course of their first science run, particularly with regard to narrow-band spectral artifacts.