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Tousif Islam

Publications and source records attributed to Tousif Islam.

57 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Testing the"no-hair" nature of binary black holes using the consistency of multipolar gravitational radiation

Gravitational-wave (GW) observations of binary black holes offer the best probes of the relativistic, strong-field regime of gravity. Gravitational radiation, in the leading order is quadrupolar. However, non-quadrupole (higher-order) modes make appreciable contribution to the radiation from binary black holes with large mass ratios and misaligned spins. The multipolar structure of the radiation is fully determined by the intrinsic parameters (masses and spin angular momenta of the companion black holes) of a binary in quasi-circular orbit. Following our previous work \cite{Dhanpal:2018ufk}, we develop multiple ways of testing the consistency of the observed GW signal with the expected multipolar structure of radiation from binary black holes in general relativity. We call this a "no-hair" test of binary black holes as this is similar to testing the "no-hair" theorem for isolated black holes through mutual consistency of the quasi-normal mode spectrum. We use Bayesian inference on simulated GW signals that are consistent/inconsistent with binary black holes in GR to demonstrate the power of the proposed tests. We also make estimate systematic errors arising as a result of neglecting companion spins.

gr-qc↗

Globular clusters as a probe for Weyl Conformal Gravity

Eventual flattening of velocity dispersion profiles of some galactic globular clusters in the Milky Way cannot be explained in the framework of Newtonian gravity and hence in general theory of relativity in the weak field limit, without resorting to the occurrence of tidal effects. We explore the possibility of explaining such deviation from expected Keplerian fall-off in dispersion profiles within the context of Weyl conformal gravity. We choose a set of 20 globular clusters for which recent kinematic measurements are available. We model the globular clusters with approximate Hernquist mass profiles and choose a constant mass-to-light ratio throughout the cluster as the only free parameter in the model. Our analysis finds reasonable Weyl gravity fits to the observed dispersion profiles, exhibiting both Keplerian decline and eventual flattening, with acceptable mass-to-light ratios. We further recover a Tully-Fisher like scaling relation in globular clusters through Weyl gravity.

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Testing Weyl Gravity at Galactic and Extra-galactic Scales

We examine the viability of Weyl conformal gravity as an alternative to the general theory of relativity. By using the extended rotation curve of the Milky Way and velocity dispersions of four globular clusters, we show that Weyl gravity predictions without resorting to dark matter comply with observations at the galactic scale. For the Milky Way, we demonstrate that the uncertainty in baryonic modelling results a bracket of possible rotational velocities which well encompasses the diversity in rotation curve construction. Such diversity generally arises from differences in measurements of velocity anisotropy parameter, and the circular speed and Galactocentric distance of the Sun. Furthermore, we explore the ability of Weyl gravity to account for the inferred acceleration of Abell cluster 1689.

gr-qc↗