Studies in Gravitational Waves and Neutron Star Ocean Waves

在LIGO和VIRGO可能看到的几个引力波源中，最有希望的候选者似乎是中子星或紧联星中黑洞的合并。 对于这些探测器的所谓“高级”版本，预计合并事件发生率约为102/年。 自然，人们希望从这些探测中收集尽可能多的天文信息：人们希望确定双星的角位置和距离，无论物体是中子星还是黑洞，两个物体的质量，等等。 卡特勒教授将启动一项研究计划，以确定LIGO/VIRGO可以如何准确地测量这些量。 在从引力波信号中提取这些信息时，有两种误差：由于探测器噪声引起的测量误差，以及由于相对论者精确计算给定二元参数的螺旋波形的能力有限而引起的理论误差。 卡特勒正在研究这两种错误，使用蒙特卡罗和分析技术的混合。 分析是困难的，因为许多有趣的信息被编码在小的后牛顿波形中。 上述研究有三个主要动机。 首先，它为实验者提供了指导，让他们知道探测器设计的哪些元素对天文学来说是最关键的。 第二，它为理论家提供了一个指导，告诉他们在解决两体问题时必须“力争”达到什么样的精确度。 第三，这些结果可以让人们判断双星聚结的潜在天文应用的可行性，例如使用它们作为标准烛光来确定哈勃常数。

Of the several gravitational wave sources that could potentially be seen by LIGO and VIRGO, the most promising candidate appears to be mergers of neutron stars or black holes in tight binaries. For the so-called `Advanced' versions of these detectors, anticipated event rates from mergers are ~102/yr. Naturally, one will want to glean as much astronomical information as possible from these detections: one will want to determine the angular position and distance to the binary, whether the bodies are neutron stars or black holes, the masses of the two bodies, et cetera. Prof. Cutler will initiate a program of research to determine how accurately LIGO/VIRGO can measure these quantities. In extracting this information from the gravitational wave signal, there are two kinds of errors: measurement errors due to detector noise, and theoretical errors due to limitations on the ability of relativists to accurately calculate the inspiral waveform for a given set of binary parameters. Cutler is investigating both kinds of error, using a mixture of Monte Carlo and analytic techniques. The analysis is made difficult by the fact that much of the interesting information is encoded in small, post-Newtonian pieces of the waveform. There are three principal motivations for the above research. First, it provides guidance to experimentalists as to which elements of the detector design are most crucial for doing astronomy. Second, it provides theorists a guide to the level of accuracy they must `shoot for' in solving the two-body problem. Third, the results allow one to judge the feasibility of potential astronomical applications of binary coalescences, such as using them as standard candles to determine the Hubble constant.