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Auteurs principaux: Roy, Soumen, Vicente, Rodrigo
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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Accès en ligne:https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.16388
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author Roy, Soumen
Vicente, Rodrigo
author_facet Roy, Soumen
Vicente, Rodrigo
contents The gravitational-wave events observed by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration are attributed to compact binary coalescences happening in vacuum. However, several studies suggest that gaseous environments may play a significant role in the formation and evolution of compact binaries. Why have we not seen environmental effects in LVK signals? While matched-filtering remains the most effective technique for gravitational-wave searches, it comes with a burden: we might only observe signals that align with our (vacuum) expectations, potentially missing unexpected or unknown phenomena. Even more concerning is the possibility that environmental effects could mimic vacuum waveforms, introducing biases in parameter estimation and impacting population studies. Here, we use numerical relativity simulations of binary black hole mergers inside stellar envelopes to show that: (i) a $\texttt{GW150914}$-like event would be detected (with a false alarm rate smaller than $10^{-4}\, \mathrm{yr^{-1}}$) using a template bank of vacuum waveforms, even when immersed in a stellar envelope of density larger than $10^{7}\,\mathrm{g/cm^3}$; (ii) environmental effects can pass routinely performed tests of vacuum General Relativity, while leading to considerable biases in parameter estimation; but (iii) phenomenological environment waveforms are effectual in detecting environmental effects and can resolve systematics.
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publishDate 2024
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spellingShingle Compact Binary Coalescences in Dense Gaseous Environments Can Pose as ones in Vacuum
Roy, Soumen
Vicente, Rodrigo
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
The gravitational-wave events observed by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration are attributed to compact binary coalescences happening in vacuum. However, several studies suggest that gaseous environments may play a significant role in the formation and evolution of compact binaries. Why have we not seen environmental effects in LVK signals? While matched-filtering remains the most effective technique for gravitational-wave searches, it comes with a burden: we might only observe signals that align with our (vacuum) expectations, potentially missing unexpected or unknown phenomena. Even more concerning is the possibility that environmental effects could mimic vacuum waveforms, introducing biases in parameter estimation and impacting population studies. Here, we use numerical relativity simulations of binary black hole mergers inside stellar envelopes to show that: (i) a $\texttt{GW150914}$-like event would be detected (with a false alarm rate smaller than $10^{-4}\, \mathrm{yr^{-1}}$) using a template bank of vacuum waveforms, even when immersed in a stellar envelope of density larger than $10^{7}\,\mathrm{g/cm^3}$; (ii) environmental effects can pass routinely performed tests of vacuum General Relativity, while leading to considerable biases in parameter estimation; but (iii) phenomenological environment waveforms are effectual in detecting environmental effects and can resolve systematics.
title Compact Binary Coalescences in Dense Gaseous Environments Can Pose as ones in Vacuum
topic General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.16388