The LIGO-Virgo O3 Run and the Multi-Messenger Investigations of Compact Binary Mergers

The third observing run (O3) of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo started in April 2019 and ended in March 2020 due to the pandemic. From the O3 run three catalogs of compact binary mergers, GWTC-2, GWTC-2.1, and GWTC-3, that include also some exceptional events, are produced by the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration. The paper will review the science results about compact binary mergers during the O3 run and the follow-up of gravitational wave candidate events involving the whole electromagnetic spectrum and neutrinos. No confirmed counterpart is found during the O3 run for any candidate. The impact of detected events on astrophysics and cosmology will also be discussed. The paper will also briefly summarize additional multi-messenger investigations involving candidates not initially associated to gravitational events.     

The basic physics of the binary black hole merger GW150914

The first direct gravitational‐wave detection was made by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory on September 14, 2015. The GW150914 signal was strong enough to be apparent, without using any waveform model, in the filtered detector strain data. Here, features of the signal visible in the data are analyzed using concepts from Newtonian physics and general relativity, accessible to anyone with a general physics background. The simple analysis presented here is consistent with the fully general‐relativistic analyses published elsewhere, in showing that the signal was produced by the inspiral and subsequent merger of two black holes. The black holes were each of approximately , still orbited each other as close as ∼350 km apart and subsequently merged to form a single black hole. Similar reasoning, directly from the data, is used to roughly estimate how far these black holes were from the Earth, and the energy that they radiated in gravitational waves.     

Primordial black holes and third order scalar induced gravitational waves

The process of primordial black hole (PBH) formation is inevitably accompanied by scalar induced gravitational waves (SIGWs). The strong correlation between PBH and SIGW signals may offer a promising approach to detecting PBHs in upcoming gravitational wave experiments, such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). We investigate third order SIGWs during a radiation-dominated era in the case of the monochromatic primordial power spectrum \begin{document}$ \mathcal{P}_{\zeta}=A_{\zeta}k_*\delta\left(k-k_*\right) $\end{document}. For LISA observations, the relationships between the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and monochromatic primordial power spectrum are studied systematically, revealing that the effects of third order SIGWs extend the cutoff frequency from \begin{document}$ 2f_* $\end{document} to \begin{document}$ 3f_* $\end{document} and lead to an approximately 200% increase in the SNR for the frequency band from \begin{document}$ 10^{-5} $\end{document}Hz to \begin{document}$ 1.6\times 10^{-3} $\end{document}Hz, corresponding to PBHs with masses in the range \begin{document}$4\times 10^{-12}M_{\odot} \sim 10^{-7}M_{\odot}$\end{document}. We find that there is a critical value, \begin{document}$ A_*=1.76\times 10^{-2} $\end{document}, for the amplitude of the monochromatic primordial power spectra, such that when \begin{document}$ A_{\zeta}>A_* $\end{document}, the energy density of third order SIGWs is larger than that of second order SIGWs.     

Formation of black hole and emission of gravitational waves

Numerical simulations were performed for the formation process of rotating black holes. It is suggested that Kerr black holes are formed for wide ranges of initial parameters. The nature of gravitational waves from a test particle falling into a Kerr black hole as well as the development of 3D numerical relativity for the coalescing binary neutron stars are discussed.     

Expanding the Area of Gravitational Entropy

I describe how gravitational entropy is intimately connected with the concept of gravitational heat, expressed as the difference between the total and free energies of a given gravitational system. From this perspective one can compute these thermodyanmic quantities in settings that go considerably beyond Bekenstein's original insight that the area of a black hole event horizon can be identified with thermodynamic entropy. The settings include the outsides of cosmological horizons and spacetimes with NUT charge. However the interpretation of gravitational entropy in these broader contexts remains to be understood.     

黑洞照亮宇宙——银河系中心黑洞及其物理意义

2020年度诺贝尔物理学奖颁发给为黑洞和超大质量致密天体做出突出贡献的三位科学家,他们分别从理论和观测上提供了令人信服的证明和证据。他们的工作打开了理解宇宙中大质量天体命运的窗口。人们普遍相信超大质量黑洞存在于每一个星系的中心,是这些黑洞照亮了再电离时期的宇宙,也是它们为揭开宇宙膨胀历史、暗能量宇宙演化性质、纳赫兹低频引力波等诸多谜团提供了十分强大的工具。预计未来5年内,反响映射和GRAVITY/VLTI联合观测将在以黑洞研究为支撑的领域取得重大进展。     

Cosmology with Gravitational Waves: A Review

Standard sirens have been the central paradigm in gravitational-wave cosmology so far. From the gravitational wave signature of compact star binaries, it is possible to measure the luminosity distance of the source directly, and if additional information on the source redshift is provided, a measurement of the cosmological expansion can be performed. This review article discusses several methodologies that have been proposed to use gravitational waves for cosmological studies. Methods that use only gravitational-wave signals and methods that use gravitational waves in conjunction with additional observations such as electromagnetic counterparts and galaxy catalogs will be discussed. The review also discusses the most recent results on gravitational-wave cosmology, starting from the binary neutron star merger GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart and finishing with the population of binary black holes, observed with the third Gravitational-wave Transient Catalog GWTC–3.     

The gravitational wave symphony of the Universe

The new millennium will see the upcoming of several ground-based interferometric gravitational wave antennas. Within the next decade a space-based antenna may also begin to observe the distant Universe. These gravitational wave detectors will together operate as a network taking data continuously for several years, watching the transient and continuous phenomena occurring in the deep cores of astronomical objects and dense environs of the early Universe where gravity was extremely strong and highly nonlinear. The network will listen to the waves from rapidly spinning non-axisymmetric neutron stars, normal modes of black holes, binary black hole inspiral and merger, phase transitions in the early Universe, quantum fluctuations resulting in a characteristic background in the early Universe. The gravitational wave antennas will open a new window to observe the dark Universe unreachable via other channels of astronomical observations.     

Gravitating Dyons and Dyonic Black Holes in SU(2) and SU(5) Theories

The study of gravitating dyons and dyonic black holes in SU(2) and SU(5) theories has been undertaken and it has been shown that gravitating fundamental dyonic solutions and dyonic black holes are stable in both the cases.     

De Broglie Matter Waves from the Linearized Einstein Field Equations

We suggest a connection between matter waves and gravitational waves. We find solutions of the linearized Einstein field equations in the form of de Broglie waves. These therefore acquire a new geometrical meaning.     

Origin of the blackhole information paradox

It is argued that the blackhole information paradox originates from treating the blackhole geometry as strictly classical. It is further argued that the theory of quantum fields in a classical curved space with a horizon is an ill posed problem. If the geometry is allowed to fluctuate quantum mechanically, then the horizon effectively disappears. The sharp horizon emerges only in the classical limit when the ratio of the Compton wavelength of the black hole to its Schwarzschild radius vanishes. The region of strong gravity that develops when matter collapses to form the blackhole remains visible to the whole of spacetime and has to be described by a microscopic theory of strong gravity. The arguments imply that the information paradox is demoted from a paradox involving fundamental principles of physics to the problem of describing how matter at the highest densities gravitates.     

Geometry and thermodynamics of smeared Reissner–Nordstrm black holes in d-dimensional AdS spacetime

We construct a family of d-dimensional Reissner–Nordstr o¨m-Ad S black holes inspired by noncommutative geometry. The density distribution of the gravitational source is determined by the dimension of space, the minimum length of spacetime l, and other parameters(e.g., n relating to the central matter density). The curvature of the center and some thermodynamic properties of these black holes are investigated. We find that the center of the source is nonsingular for n 0(under certain conditions it is also nonsingular for-2 n 0), and the properties at the event horizon, including the Hawking temperature, entropy, and heat capacity, are regular for n -2. Due to the presence of l, there is an exponentially small correction to the usual entropy.     

An Approximation of the Steady Gravity Wave Induced by Mountainous Topography

An approximation of the orography gravity wave, which is induced by mountainous topography, is considered in this study. By assuming that the horizontal wind is a linear function with respect to the height, the approximating equation for the orography gravity waves is obtained. Four topography functions are considered in this study and the orography gravity wave are obtained. The dynamics of the orography gravity wave is then discussed by considering the effect of the surface topography and background horizontal wind.     

Anti-de Sitter时空中黑洞量子熵的发散结构

用“brick- wall”模型研究了Anti-de Sitter时空中起源于电磁和引力场的黑洞量子熵的发散结构, 结果表明量子熵由线性发散项和对数发散项构成. 如果平衡温度选为Hawking温度，固有截断替代坐标截断，则线性发散项可化为正比于事件视界面积的形式；而对数发散项不仅依赖于黑洞的特征，也依赖于场的自旋，由于此项的存在，自旋场的贡献不再与标量场的贡献成正比. 关键词： 发散结构 黑洞熵 AdS时空 电磁和引力场     

Numerical Relativity and the Discovery of Gravitational Waves

Solving Einstein's equations precisely for strong‐field gravitational systems is essential to determining the full physics content of gravitational wave detections. Without these solutions it is not possible to infer precise values for initial and final‐state system parameters. Obtaining these solutions requires extensive numerical simulations, as Einstein's equations governing these systems are much too difficult to solve analytically. These difficulties arise principally from the curved, non‐linear nature of spacetime in general relativity. Developing the numerical capabilities needed to produce reliable, efficient calculations has required a Herculean 50‐year effort involving hundreds of researchers using sophisticated physical insight, algorithm development, computational technique, and computers that are a billion times more capable than they were in 1964 when computations were first attempted. The purpose of this review is to give an accessible overview for non‐experts of the major developments that have made such dramatic progress possible.     

On Thermodynamical Relation Between Rotating Charged BTZ Black Holes and Effective String Theory

In this paper we study the first law of thermodynamics for the （2＋1）-dimensional rotating charged BTZ black hole considering a pair of thermodynamical systems constructed with the two horizons of this solution. We show that these two systems are similar to the right and left movers of string theory and that the temperature associated with the black hole is the harmonic mean of the temperatures associated with these two systems.     

On Thermodynamical Relation Between Rotating ChargedBTZ Black Holes and Effective String Theory

In this paper we study the first law of thermodynamics for the (2+1)-dimensional rotating charged BTZ black hole considering a pair of thermodynamical systems constructed with the two horizons of this solution. We show that these two systems are similar to the right and left movers of string theory and that the temperature associated with the black hole is the harmonic mean of the temperatures associated with these two systems.     

一般稳态时空中光子的轨道效应

计算了带有电荷和磁荷的旋转场源外部稳态时空中光子的轨道效应. 通过对计算结果的分析, 发现由荷电所引起的光子轨道偏转效应将减小由场源质量所引起的光子轨道偏转效应,但由场源的旋转所引起的相应偏转效应将依赖于场源的旋转方向与光子运动方向之间的夹角. 通过对相应的天体参数的讨论得到了一系列有意义的结果. 关键词： 光子轨道 引力效应 稳态时空     

On the genericity of spacetime singularities

We consider here the genericity aspects of spacetime singularities that occur in cosmology and in gravitational collapse. The singularity theorems (that predict the occurrence of singularities in general relativity) allow the singularities of gravitational collapse to be either visible to external observers or covered by an event horizon of gravity. It is shown that the visible singularities that develop as final states of spherical collapse are generic. Some consequences of this fact are discussed.