Characteristic Features of Gravitational Wave Lensing as Probe of Lens Mass Model

To recognize gravitational wave lensing events and being able to differentiate between similar lens models will be of crucial importance once one will be observing several lensing events of gravitational waves per year. In this work, the lensing of gravitational waves is studied in the context of LISA sources and wave-optics regime. While different papers before the studied microlensing effects enhanced by simultaneous strong lensing, the focus is on frequency (time) dependent phase effects produced by one lens that will be visible with only one lensed signal. It is shows how, in the interference regime (i.e., when interference patterns are present in the lensed image), one is able to i) distinguish a lensed waveform from an unlensed one, and ii) differentiate between different lens models. In pure wave-optics, on the other hand, the feasibility of the study depends on the signal-to-noise ratio of the signal and/or the amplitude of the lensing effect. To achieve these goals, the phase of the amplification factor of the different lens models and its effect on the unlensed waveform is studied, and the signal-to-noise calculation to provide some quantitative examples is exploited.     

High-Frequency Gravitational Waves in Electromagnetic Waveguides

The interaction between a very-high-frequency gravitational wave (VHFGW) and an electromagnetic wave (EMW) in a rectangular waveguide is discussed in the weak field limit. The background EMW is assumed to be initially in the TE₁₀ mode along the waveguide. It is then shown that a VHFGW, having the same frequency and direction of propagation of the EMW, induces through the waveguide a TE mode with a frequency doubled when compared to the original EMW frequency. In that respect, the GW acts similar to a non-linear medium, giving rise to a Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) effect.     

Gravitational Holography and Trapped Surfaces

We have previously discussed the characteristics of the gravitational waves (GW) and have, theoretically, shown that, like the corresponding electromagnetic (EM) waves, they also demonstrate, under certain conditions, holographic properties. In this work we have expanded this discussion and show that the assumed gravitational holographic images may, theoretically, be related to another property of GW’s which is their possible relation to singular (or nonsingular) trapped surfaces. We also show that this possibility may be, theoretically, related even to weak GW’s. PACS: 42.40.-i, 04.20.Gz, 04.30.-w, 04.30.Nk.     

Gravitational Wave Holography

We represent and discuss a theory of gravitational holography in which all the involved waves; subject, reference and illuminator are gravitational waves (GW). Although these waves are so weak that no terrestrial experimental set-ups, even the large LIGO, VIRGO, GEO and TAMA facilities, were able up to now to directly detect them they are, nevertheless, known under certain conditions (such as very small wavelengths) to be almost indistinguishable (see P. 962, in Misner, C. W., Thorne, K. S., and Wheeler, J. A. (1973). Gravitation, Freeman, San Francisco.) from their analogue electromagnetic waves (EMW). We, therefore theoretically, show, using the known methods of optical holography and taking into account the very peculiar nature of GW, that it is also possible to reconstruct subject gravitational waves. PACS numbers: 42.40.-i, 42.40.Eq, 04.30.-w, 04.30.Nk     

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.     

Gravitational wave astronomy

We are entering a new era of gravitational-wave astronomy. The ground-based interferometers have reached their initial design sensitivity in the audio band. Several upper limits have been set for anticipated astrophysical sources from the science data. The advanced detectors in the US and in Europe are expected to be operational around 2015. New advanced detectors are also planned in Japan and in India. The first direct detections of gravitational waves are expected within this decade. In the meanwhile, three pulsar timing array projects are forming an international collaboration to detect gravitational waves directly in the nanoHertz range using timing data from millisecond pulsars. The first direct detection of nanoHertz gravitational waves are also expected within this decade. In this paper, we review the status of current gravitational-wave detectors, possible types of sources, observational upper limits achieved, and future prospects for direct detection of gravitational waves     

Gravitational Lensing and Relativistic Theories of Gravitation

We consider the point mass and the singular isothermal sphere gravitational lens models in the framework of relativistic theories of gravitation which admit the standard parametrized post-Newtonian (PPN) formalism. In the case of the singular isothermal sphere, we determine the PPN parameter in terms of the image angular separation, the ratio of two distances and the velocity dispersion in the deflector which can be evaluated from observations.     

Gravitational wave imprint of new symmetry breaking

It is believed that there are more fundamental gauge symmetries beyond those described by the Standard Model of particle physics. The scales of these new gauge symmetries are usually too high to be reachable by particle colliders. Considering that the phase transition (PT) relating to the spontaneous breaking of new gauge symmetries to the electroweak symmetry might be strongly first order, we propose considering the stochastic gravitational waves (GW) arising from this phase transition as an indirect way of detecting these new fundamental gauge symmetries. As an illustration, we explore the possibility of detecting the stochastic GW generated from the PT of \begin{document}$ {\bf{B}}-{\bf{L}}$\end{document} in the space-based interferometer detectors. Our study demonstrates that the GW energy spectrum is reachable by the LISA, Tianqin, Taiji, BBO, and DECIGO experiments only for the case where the spontaneous breaking of \begin{document}$ {\bf{B}}-{\bf{L}}$\end{document} is triggered by at least two electroweak singlet scalars.     

Letter: Some Remarks on Standing Gravitational Waves

An intuitive definition of standing gravitational waves is proposed. Some main classes of exact vacuum solutions are searched for standing gravitational waves, in most cases with a negative result. Only some Einstein–Rosen waves meet the conditions.     

Do Neutron Star Gravitational Waves Carry Superfluid Imprints?

Isolated neutron stars undergoing non-radial oscillations are expected to emit gravitational waves in the kilohertz frequency range. To date, radio astronomers have located about 1,300 pulsars, and can estimate that there are about 2×10⁸ neutron stars in the galaxy. Many of these are surely old and cold enough that their interiors will contain matter in the superfluid or superconducting state. In fact, the so-called glitch phenomenon in pulsars (a sudden spin-up of the pulsar's crust) is best described by assuming the presence of superfluid neutrons and superconducting protons in the inner crusts and cores of the pulsars. Recently there has been much progress on modelling the dynamics of superfluid neutron stars in both the Newtonian and general relativistic regimes. We will discuss some of the main results of this recent work, perhaps the most important being that superfluidity should affect the gravitational waves from neutron stars (emitted, for instance, during a glitch) by modifying both the rotational properties of the background star and the modes of oscillation of the perturbed configuration. Finally, we present an analysis of the so-called zero-frequency subspace (i.e., the space of time-independent perturbations) and determine that it is spanned by two sets of polar (or spheroidal) and two sets of axial (or toroidal) degenerate perturbations for the general relativistic system. As in the Newtonian case, the polar perturbations are the g-modes which are missing from the pulsation spectrum of a non-rotating configuration, and the axial perturbations should lead to two sets of r-modes when the degeneracy of the frequencies is broken by having the background rotate.     

Some optimizations on detecting gravitational wave using convolutional neural network

This work investigates the problem of detecting gravitational wave (GW) events based on simulated damped sinusoid signals contaminated with white Gaussian noise. It is treated as a classification problem with one class for the interesting events. The proposed scheme consists of the following two successive steps: decomposing the data using a wavelet packet, representing the GW signal and noise using the derived decomposition coefficients; and determining the existence of any GW event using a convolutional neural network (CNN) with a logistic regression output layer. The characteristic of this work is its comprehensive investigations on CNN structure, detection window width, data resolution, wavelet packet decomposition and detection window overlap scheme. Extensive simulation experiments show excellent performances for reliable detection of signals with a range of GW model parameters and signal-to-noise ratios. While we use a simple waveform model in this study, we expect the method to be particularly valuable when the potential GW shapes are too complex to be characterized with a template bank.     

Gravitational wave background from neutron star phase transition

We study the generation of a stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background produced by a population of neutron stars (NSs) which go over a hadron-quark phase transition in its inner shells. We obtain, for example, that the NS phase transition, in cold dark matter scenarios, could generate a stochastic GW background with a maximum amplitude of h _BG ~ 10⁻²⁴, in the frequency band ν _obs ≃ 20–2,000 Hz for stars forming at redshifts of up to z ≃ 20. We study the possibility of detection of this isotropic GW background by correlating signals of a pair of Advanced LIGO observatories.     

GWs from S-stars Revolving Around SMBH at Sgr A*

A preliminary estimation of gravitational waves (GWs) from the extreme-mass-ratio-inspirals (EMRIs) system in the Galactic Centre (GC) is given for the 37 observed S-stars revolving around the supermassive black hole (SMBH) at Sagittarius (Sgr) A^*. Within this century, the total strain of the gravitational waveform calculated from the post-Newtonian (PN) method with eccentricity is well below the current planned sensitivity of pulsar-timing-array (PTA). New technology might be required in order to extract GW signal from this EMRIs system for future PTA detections.     

A new method to test the cosmic distance duality relation using the strongly lensed gravitational waves

We propose a new method to test the cosmic distance duality relation using the strongly lensed gravitational waves. The simultaneous observation of the image positions, relative time delay between different images, redshift measurements of the lens and the source, together with the mass modelling of the lens galaxy, provide the angular diameter distance to the gravitational wave source. On the other hand, the luminosity distance to the source can be obtained from the observation of the gravitational wave signals. To our knowledge this is the first time a method is proposed to simultaneously measure the angular diameter distance and the luminosity distance from the same source. Hence, the strongly lensed gravitational waves provide a unique method to test the cosmic distance duality relation. With the construction of the third generation gravitational detectors such as the Einstein Telescope, it will be possible to test the cosmic distance duality relation with an accuracy of a few percent.     

Some High-Frequency Gravitational Waves Related to Exact Radiative Spacetimes

A formalism is introduced which may describe both standard linearized waves and gravitational waves in Isaacson's high-frequency limit. After emphasizing main differences between the two approximation techniques we generalize the Isaacson method to non-vacuum spacetimes. Then we present three large explicit classes of solutions for high-frequency gravitational waves in particular backgrounds. These involve non-expanding (plane, spherical or hyperbolical), cylindrical, and expanding (spherical) waves propagating in various universes which may contain a cosmological constant and electromagnetic field. Relations of high-frequency gravitational perturbations of these types to corresponding exact radiative spacetimes are described.     

The delay time of gravitational wave – gamma-ray burst associations

The first gravitational wave (GW) – gamma-ray burst (GRB) association, GW170817/GRB 170817A, had an offset in time, with the GRB trigger time delayed by ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time of the GW signal. We generally discuss the astrophysical origin of the delay time, Δt, of GW-GRB associations within the context of compact binary coalescence (CBC) – short GRB (sGRB) associations and GW burst – long GRB (lGRB) associations. In general, the delay time should include three terms, the time to launch a clean (relativistic) jet, Δt_jet; the time for the jet to break out from the surrounding medium, Δt_bo; and the time for the jet to reach the energy dissipation and GRB emission site, Δt_GRB. For CBC-sGRB associations, Δtjet and Δt_bo are correlated, and the final delay can be from 10 ms to a few seconds. For GWB-lGRB associations, Δt_jet and Δt_bo are independent. The latter is at least ~10 s, so that Δt of these associations is at least this long. For certain jet launching mechanisms of lGRBs, Δt can be minutes or even hours long due to the extended engine waiting time to launch a jet. We discuss the cases of GW170817/GRB 170817A and GW150914/GW150914-GBM within this theoretical framework and suggest that the delay times of future GW/GRB associations will shed light into the jet launching mechanisms of GRBs.     

On the Reconstruction of the Scalar Mode of GW170817 in Scalar-Tensor Gravity Theory

In general metric theory of gravity, a gravitational wave is allowed to have up to six polarizations: two scalar and two vector modes in addition to tensor modes. In case the number of laser-interferometric gravitational wave telescopes is larger than the number of polarizations of a gravitational wave, all the polarizations can be individually reconstructed. Since it depends on theories of gravity which polarizations the gravitational waves have, the investigation of polarizations is important for the test of theories of gravity. In order to test the scalar–tensor gravity theory, one of important alternative theories of gravity, the scalar mode of GW170817 observed by LIGO Livingstone, Hanford and Virgo is reconstructed without prior information about any tensor–scalar gravity theories. The upper limit of the scalar mode in term of the band-limited root-sum-square of the amplitude is $$ with the time window of 2 [s] and frequency window of ≈60–120 [Hz]. It is also studied how much the tensor modes are leaked into the reconstructed scalar mode, and it is found that the reconstructed scalar mode contains roughly 30% of energy leaked from the tensor modes.