gravity.phy.umassd.edu

This section is dedicated to the ongoing research projects of our group related to black hole physics. Initials of the faculty involved, are in parentheses.

Projects

• Binary Black Hole Coalescence using Perturbation Theory (GK,JP,SH,LB)

This project deals with estimating properties of the gravitational waves produced by the merger of two black holes. It is of direct relevance to the various gravitational wave observatories that are being built world-wide (eg. LIGO, LISA). For more information, try this link, which is a popular article about our work published by Nature Magazine. Here are some movies and snapshots, showing the gravity waves emerging from coalescence of two equal mass black holes in the close-slow limit: side view, top view, more movies, snapshot.

• Radiative Tails in Black Hole Spacetimes (LB,GK)

This project is about understanding the late-time behavior of the perturbations of black holes aka radiative "tails". It turns out that these perturbations exhibit a power-law decay - but the precise value of the power-law index, is a matter of some conflict in literature - especially in the context of rotating black holes. We are attempting to settle this matter using highly-accurate, long-term, stable numerical evolutions. We are also currently studying intermediate-time behavior, in addition to the late-time as mentioned above. Here is a log-log plot that shows radiation from a black hole decaying as time progresses: plot. Note that there is a clear intermediate-time power-law decay and a distinct late-time decay.

• Black Holes in Loop Quantum Gravity (DC,GK,MB)

It is widely believed that the theory of quantum gravitation will resolve the issue of singularities (for example, infinite density at the moment of the big bang and also in the center of black holes) that plague classical general relativity. This project attempts to investigate this in the context of loop quantum gravity.

• Einstein@Home (GK)

Einstein@Home is a program that uses a computer's idle time to search for spinning neutron stars (also called pulsars) using data from the LIGO and GEO gravitational wave detectors. We assist in the optimization of this software. Check out our Einstein@UMass team!