Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2106.00193

An optimized PyCBC search for gravitational waves from intermediate-mass black hole mergers

Koustav Chandra·V. Villa-Ortega·T. Dent·C. McIsaac·Archana Pai·I. W. Harry·G. S. Cabourn Davies·K. Soni
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

The detection of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) i.e. those with mass $\sim 100$-$10^5 M_\odot$, is an emerging goal of gravitational-wave (GW) astronomy with wide implications for cosmology and tests of strong-field gravity. Current PyCBC-based searches for compact binary mergers, which matched filter the detector data against a set of template waveforms, have so far detected or confirmed several GW events. However, the sensitivity of these searches to signals arising from mergers of IMBH binaries is not optimal. Here, we present a new optimised PyCBC-based search for such signals. Our search benefits from using a targeted template bank, stricter signal-noise discriminators and a lower matched-filter frequency cut-off. In particular, for a population of simulated signals with isotropically distributed spins, we improve the sensitive volume-time product over previous PyCBC-based searches, at an inverse false alarm rate of 100 years, by a factor of 1.5 to 3 depending on the total binary mass. We deploy this new search on Advanced LIGO-Virgo data from the first half of the third observing run. The search does not identify any new significant IMBH binaries but does confirm the detection of the short-duration GW signal GW190521 with a false alarm rate of 1 in 727 years.

Explore related subjects

gr-qcastro-ph.HE

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Koustav Chandra, V. Villa-Ortega, T. Dent, C. McIsaac, Archana Pai, I. W. Harry, G. S. Cabourn Davies, K. Soni. 2021-08-28. An optimized PyCBC search for gravitational waves from intermediate-mass black hole mergers. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.104.042004

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

An upper bound on the minimum orbital period of black holes

Previous research has focused on establishing lower bounds on the minimum orbital period of black holes. In this work, we explore the complementary question of whether an upper bound exists for the minimum orbital period of black holes. We investigate the minimum orbital periods of three types of black holes: Schwarzschild, Reissner-Nordström and Kerr-Newman black holes. We find that the minimum orbital period of these black holes is bounded by an upper limit $T_{min} \leqslant 6\sqrt{3}πM$, where $M$ is the black hole mass. Our results suggest that this upper bound on the minimum orbital period may be a general property in black hole spacetimes.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

Dirac Observables for Gowdy Cosmologies regular at the Big Bang

Gowdy cosmologies are exact, spatially inhomogeneous solutions of the vacuum Einstein equations which describe nonlinear gravitational waves coalescing at the Big Bang singularity. With toroidal spatial sections they provenly have the Asymptotic Velocity Domination property, in that close to the Big Bang dynamical spatial gradients fade out and the dynamics is governed by a Carroll-type gravity theory. Here we construct an infinite set of Dirac observables for Gowdy cosmologies, valid off-shell, strongly, and without gauge fixing. These observables stay regular at the Big Bang and can be matched to much simpler Dirac observables of the Carroll-type gravity theory. Conversely, in an adapted foliation there is a systematic anti-Newtonian expansion (in inverse powers of the reduced Newton constant) of the full Dirac observables whose leading terms are the Carroll ones. In particular, this provides an off-shell generalization of the Asymptotic Velocity Domination property.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

Global causality constraints in rotating scalar-tensor spacetimes

Modified gravity is often formulated as an effective field theory (EFT), where higher-order corrections parametrize departures from General Relativity. We argue that such corrections should be constrained by the global causal structure of curved spacetime, in addition to the usual flat-space requirements such as positivity and unitarity. We propose that within the domain of validity of the EFT, the onset of closed timelike curves should not happen in a parametrically more accessible region than in the corresponding GR background. We test this diagnostic in the quadratic k-essence sector of scalar-tensor gravity. For stationary and axisymmetric spacetimes, the invariant test for closed axial orbits is the sign of the azimuthal component of the metric \(g_{φφ}\). We supplement this test by requiring a local time function in the space of Killing vectors. We apply these conditions to quadratic k-essence on Kerr--(A)dS backgrounds, with and without scalar charge. The zero-charge branch is exact Kerr--(A)dS, and we treat the charged branch perturbatively in scalar charge and in Hartle--Thorne slow rotation. Expanding for small spin \(χ=a/(GM)\ll1\), frame dragging begins at \(\mathcal O(χ)\), while the quadrupolar backreaction relevant for circular closed timelike curves enters at second order in both rotation and charge. We find that, in the truncation used here, any occurrence of \(g_{φφ}<0\) also lies outside EFT control. A higher-order calculation or a fully nonlinear treatment is therefore needed. Finally, we discuss how quasinormal modes and black-hole echoes could probe such causal structure.

gr-qc↗