The direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015 has initiated a new era of gravitational wave astronomy, which has already paid remarkable dividends in our understanding of astrophysics and gravitational physics. Aimed at advanced undergraduates and graduate students, this book introduces gravitational waves and its many applications to cosmology, nuclear physics, astrophysics and theoretical physics. The material is presented in a pedagogical way, through Fermi estimates, and detailed explanations and discussions. The student will not only learn what gravitational waves are and how they are produced, but also how they can be used to learn about astrophysical phenomena and cosmological observations, to investigate the interior of neutron stars, and to test general relativity when black holes and neutron stars collide.
Author(s): M. Coleman Miller, Nicolás Yunes
Series: AAS-IOP Astronomy
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 290
City: Bristol
PRELIMS.pdf
Preface
About the authors
Cole Miller
Nicolás Yunes
About the Characters
Symbols
CH001.pdf
Chapter 1 Overview of Gravitational Radiation
1.1 Radiation in General
1.2 What Can Generate Gravitational Radiation?
1.3 How Can We Detect Gravitational Radiation?
1.4 Exercises
Useful Books
CH002.pdf
Chapter 2 Sources of Gravitational Radiation
2.1 Compact Binaries: General Considerations
2.2 Nonbinary Sources
2.2.1 Continuous Sources
2.2.2 Burst Sources
2.2.3 Stochastic Backgrounds
2.3 Exercises
Useful Books
CH003.pdf
Chapter 3 Gravitational-wave Modeling of Binaries
3.1 Approximations Rule!
3.2 Compact Binaries
3.2.1 Comparable-mass Binaries
3.2.2 Extreme Mass-ratio Binaries
3.3 Exercises
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CH004.pdf
Chapter 4 Gravitational-wave Detection and Analysis
4.1 Noise Characterization
4.2 Signal Characterization
4.2.1 Detection and Parameter Estimation Using Templates
4.2.2 Detection of Events without Reliable Templates
4.2.3 Stochastic Backgrounds
4.3 Exercises
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CH005.pdf
Chapter 5 Gravitational-wave Astrophysics
5.1 Binaries
5.1.1 Stellar-mass Binaries
5.1.2 Massive Binaries with Comparable Masses
5.1.3 Massive Binaries with Extreme Mass Ratios
5.2 Nonbinary Sources
5.2.1 Continuous Sources
5.2.2 Burst Sources
5.2.3 Stochastic Backgrounds
5.3 Exercises
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CH006.pdf
Chapter 6 Gravitational-wave Cosmology
6.1 The Bare Bones of Cosmology
6.2 Cosmological Sources of Gravitational Waves
6.2.1 Generic Stochastic Backgrounds from the Early Universe
6.2.2 Observational Limits on the Gravitational-wave Background
6.2.3 Possible Source 1: Quantum Fluctuations from the Era of Inflation
6.2.4 Possible Source 2: Phase Transitions in the Early Universe
6.2.5 Possible Source 3: Cosmic Strings
6.3 Measuring the Universe Using Gravitational Waves
6.3.1 Measuring the Hubble Constant Using Gravitational Waves
6.3.2 Probing Dark Energy Using Gravitational Waves
6.4 Exercises
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CH007.pdf
Chapter 7 Gravitational Waves and Nuclear Physics
7.1 Basics of Neutron Stars
7.1.1 How Do We Know That Neutron Stars Exist?
7.1.2 How Are Neutron Stars Formed?
7.1.3 Degeneracy Pressure and the Chandrasekhar Mass
7.1.4 What’s Inside a Neutron Star?
7.2 How Can We Learn about the EOS?
7.2.1 Mass and Radius
7.2.2 The Moment of Inertia
7.2.3 The Rotational Quadrupole Moment
7.2.4 The Tidal Deformability
7.2.5 Nearly EOS-independent Relations
7.2.6 EOS Information from Coincident GW and Electromagnetic Observations
7.3 Exercises
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CH008.pdf
Chapter 8 Gravitational Waves and Fundamental Physics
8.1 What is Your Profession?!
8.2 Generation of Gravitational Waves in Modified Gravity
8.3 Propagation of Gravitational Waves in Modified Gravity
8.4 The Nature of Black Holes
8.5 Other Tests with Gravitational Waves
8.6 Exercises
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APP1.pdf
Chapter
A.1 The Seven Sins of Sad Statistical Analysis
A.2 Bayes’ Theorem
A.3 Priors
A.4 Marginalization
A.5 Parameter Estimation
A.5.1 Discrete Data
A.5.2 Continuous Data
A.6 Model Comparison
A.7 Exercises
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APP2.pdf
Chapter
B.1 Gravitational Focusing
B.2 Heavy Objects Sink
B.3 Two-body Relaxation
B.4 Resonant Relaxation
B.5 Dynamical Friction
B.6 Binary–Single Interactions
B.7 von Zeipel–Lidov–Kozai mechanism
B.8 Exercises
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APP3.pdf
Chapter
C.1 The Moment of Inertia I
C.2 The Rotational Quadrupole Moment Q
C.3 The Tidal Deformability Λ
INDEX.pdf
Index
