Gravitational Wave Data Analysis, Black Hole & Neutron Star Mergers, Gravitational Wave Sources & Their Electromagnetic Counterparts
Image Credit: NSF/LIGO/Sonoma State University/A. Simonnet
As a discipline, astronomy is constantly being pushed forward by new technologies that transform how we observe the Universe. Multi-messenger astronomy is the synthesis of observations using light, gravitational waves, and astro particles. Combining different information from different types of signals allows us to better understand the underlying physical processes that govern how astrophysical systems evolve and change, and helps us get a better handle on the uncertainties and statistics that are inherent to every observation we make. Additionally, numerical simulations are another type of “messenger” that can be combined with observations to better understand astrophysical phenomena. In CIERA, we have broad expertise and interest in multi-messenger astronomy, particularly at the interface of electromagnetic and gravitational-wave observations.
Research at CIERA
Compact objects, such as black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs, often exist in pairs which eventually merge. These systems are strong sources of gravitational waves, and their nature and the environment in which they reside has a profound effect on possible associated electromagnetic signatures.
Professor Fong’s group looks for EM counterparts to GW events with observing programs in Hawaii, Chile, and Arizona. They are particularly interested in studying short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) whose progenitors are likely neutron star mergers with other neutron stars or black holes.
Professor Margutti’s group makes observations of GW counterparts, studying the non-thermal emission associated with the formation and launching of relativistic jets by the compact merger in X-rays and radio.
News
Gallery
CBS Women’s History Month 2021
CBS Women’s History Month 2021
Vicky Kalogera is a professor of physics and astronomy at Northwestern University and Director of the CIERA Center – leading research, studying the cosmos and making new discoveries. This interview is a special Women’s History Month 2021 segment for CBS Chicago.
- Outreach
Bad Astra Interviews Maya Fishbach
Bad Astra Interviews Maya Fishbach
Maya Fishbach uses gravitational waves to probe the universe’s most extreme objects — black holes and neutron stars. Her research aims to understand where, when and how these systems of merging compact objects are made. As a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, she analyzes gravitational-wave data to study the population properties of colliding black
- Outreach
LIGO-Virgo Discoveries Over Time
LIGO-Virgo Discoveries Over Time
This movie shows the increasing sample of gravitational wave sources, starting before LIGO-Virgo went online (with only electromagnetic, EM, sources) and then moving through the three observing runs of data that are now available (O1, O2, and O3a). Watch as the sample of merging black holes and neutron stars has dramatically increased over the past
Visualization: LIGO-Virgo / Frank Elavsky, Aaron Geller / Northwestern
- Science,
- Data Science & Computing
Binary Neutron Star Mergers with Gabriel Casabona
Binary Neutron Star Mergers with Gabriel Casabona
Gabriel Casabona, a theoretical astrophysicist who specializes in binary neutron star mergers, gives an interview with Suzette Lyn.
Suzette Lyn
Relativistic Outflow in GW170817
Relativistic Outflow in GW170817
This movie demonstrates the propagation of a relativistic jet following the Neutron star merger GW170817. Credit: Ore Gottlieb
LIGO and Beyond
LIGO and Beyond
Episode 8 of the documentary series “LIGO: The Discovery that Shook the World” features CIERA Director Vicky Kalogera discussing the science of future LIGO instruments (the detectors that observe gravitational waves). All 8 episodes can be found on YouTube.
The Advanced LIGO Documentary Project was a collaboration among Caltech, MIT, the LIGO Laboratory and director Les Guthman that made the feature documentary, “LIGO,” and the eight-part video series, THE DISCOVERY THAT SHOOK THE WORLD, about LIGO’s major gravitational wave discoveries 2015-2017 and the birth of the new era of gravitational wave astronomy.
- Education
People
Core Astronomy Faculty
Vicky Kalogera
Daniel I. Linzer Distinguished University Professor, Director of CIERA
Shane Larson
Research Associate Professor, Associate Director of CIERA
Faculty
Postdocs
Nancy Aggarwal
CIERA Fellow, CFP Postdoctoral Fellow
