THE EFFECT OF COMPACT OBJECT SPIN ON THE SEARCH FOR GRAVITATIONAL WAVES FROM BINARY NEUTRON STAR AND NEUTRON STAR-BLACK HOLE MERGERS

<p>In this dissertation we study gravitational-wave searches for </p> <p>binary neutron star and neutron star - black hole coalescences. </p> <p>We determine the accuracy of post-Newtonian approximations as gravitational-wave</p> <p>templates in matched-filter based searches for NSBH mergers.</p> <p>We test a geometric method to generate template banks for BNS and NSBH mergers where</p> <p>the components have intrinsic spin, and estimate the sensitivity to</p> <p>astrophysical sources of searches that use these banks during Advanced LIGO.</p> <p>We explore simplifications and optimizations to the search pipeline used </p> <p>during S6/VSR2,3 gravitational-wave searches. We investigate methods for regenerating</p> <p>template banks as the noise behavior of a detector changes over time. We further</p> <p>investigate changes to the algorithm for determining coincidence between</p> <p>candidates from multiple-detectors.</p> <p>Finally, we develop a focused search for binary neutron stars, and test improvements</p> <p>to its configuration using LIGO detector data from the most recent science</p> <p>run.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Physics

Year

2015

Author dc:creator

• Nitz, Alexander Harvey

Contributors dc:contributor

• Duncan A. Brown

• black hole
• gravititational waves
• LIGO
• neutron star
• spin
• Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Repository record dc:identifier

https://surface.syr.edu/etd/316

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:surface.syr.edu:etd-1316