Nonlinear gravitational-wave memory from binary black hole mergers

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dc.creatorFavata, Marc
dc.date2009-02-23
dc.date2009-04-25
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T13:08:09Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T13:08:09Z
dc.descriptionSome astrophysical sources of gravitational waves can produce a "memory effect," which causes a permanent displacement of the test masses in a freely falling gravitational-wave detector. The Christodoulou memory is a particularly interesting nonlinear form of memory that arises from the gravitational-wave stress-energy tensor's contribution to the distant gravitational-wave field. This nonlinear memory contributes a nonoscillatory component to the gravitational-wave signal at leading (Newtonian-quadrupole) order in the waveform amplitude. Previous computations of the memory and its detectability considered only the inspiral phase of binary black hole coalescence. Using an "effective-one-body" (EOB) approach calibrated to numerical relativity simulations, as well as a simple fully analytic model, the Christodoulou memory is computed for the inspiral, merger, and ringdown. The memory will be very difficult to detect with ground-based interferometers, but is likely to be observable in supermassive black hole mergers with LISA out to a redshift of two. Detection of the nonlinear memory could serve as an experimental test of the ability of gravity to "gravitate."
dc.description4 pages, 3 figures. v2: minor changes to text and references; published in ApJ Letters
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0902.3660
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0902.3660
dc.identifierAstrophys.J.696:L159-L162,2009
dc.identifierdoi:10.1088/0004-637X/696/2/L159
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/228330
dc.subjectSolar and Stellar Astrophysics
dc.subjectGeneral Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
dc.titleNonlinear gravitational-wave memory from binary black hole mergers
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