In the present monograph we study in detail the primordial gravitational waves in cosmologies with a decaying vacuum. The decaying vacuum models are an alternative to solve the cosmological constant problem attributing a dynamic to the vacuum energy. The problem of primordial gravitational waves is discussed in the framework of an expanding, flat, spatially homogeneous and isotropic FLRW Universe described by General Relativity theory with decaying vacuum energy density of the type $\\Lambda \\equiv \\Lambda(H)$. Two particular interesting limits of a class of decaying vacuum models were investigated. A first-order tensor perturbation term was introduced to the FLRW metric, the evolution equation of the perturbations was derived and then expressed in terms of a Fourier expansion, the time-dependent part decouples from the spatial part. The resulting equation has the form of a damped harmonic oscillator which depends on the scale factor, which carries all the cosmological and decaying vacuum characteristics. In the first model studied, the decaying vacuum has the form $\\Lambda \\propto H^2$. The gravitational wave equation is established and its time-dependent part has analytically been solved for different epochs in the case of a flat geometry. The main result is unlike the standard $\\Lambda$CDM cosmology (no interacting vacuum): in this model there is gravitational wave amplification during the radiation era, which in quantum field theory means graviton production. This difference is a clear signature of the decaying vacuum models which a eventual observation could give empirical clues about it. However, high frequency modes are damped out even faster than in the standard cosmology, both in the radiation and matter-vacuum dominated epoch. The physical gravitational wave quantities like the modulus of the mode function, power and gravitational wave energy density spectra generated at different cosmological eras are also explicitly evaluated. The second model studied is a decaying vacuum of the form $\\Lambda \\propto H^3$. This model drives a nonsingular flat cosmology which is termed complete in the sense that the cosmic evolution occurs between two extreme de Sitter stages. The particularity which makes interesting this model is that the transition from the early de Sitter era to the radiation phase is smooth avoiding the graceful exit problem. The gravitational wave equation is derived and its time-dependent part numerically integrated in a relevant period previously delimited. The gravitational wave solutions for the other eras were calculates analytically. Today\'s gravitational wave spectra were calculated and compared with the standard result where an abrupt transition is assumed. It is found that the stochastic background of gravitational waves is very similar to the one predicted by the cosmic concordance model plus inflation except for the higher frequencies. / Na presente monografia foi estudado em detalhe as ondas gravitacionais primordiais em cosmologias com decaimento do vácuo. Os modelos de decaimento do vácuo são uma alternativa para resolver o problema da constante cosmológica atribuindo uma dinâmica à energia do vácuo. O problema de ondas gravitacionais primordiais é discutida no âmbito de um Universo FLRW em expansão, plano, espacialmente homogêneo e isotrópico descrito pela teoria da Relatividade Geral com decaimento da densidade de energia do vácuo do tipo $\\Lambda \\equiv \\Lambda(H)$. Dois limites particularmente interessantes de uma classe de modelos de decaimento do vácuo foram trabalhados. Um termo tensorial perturbativo a primeira ordem foi introduzido na métrica de FLRW, a equação de evolução das perturbações foi derivada e depois expressada em termos de uma expansão de Fourier, a parte dependente do tempo desacopla-se da parte espacial. A equação resultante tem a forma de um oscilador harmônico amortecido que depende do fator de escala que carrega todas as características cosmológicos e do decaimento do vácuo. No primeiro modelo estudado, o decaimento do vácuo tem a forma $\\Lambda \\propto H^2$. A equação da onda gravitacional é estabelecida e a sua parte dependente do tempo foi resolvida analiticamente para diferentes épocas no caso de uma geometria plana. O resultado principal é que a diferença da cosmologia $\\Lambda$CDM padrão (sem decaimento do vácuo), neste modelo ocorre amplificação de ondas gravitacionais durante a era de radiação, que em mecânica quântica significa produção gráviton. Esta diferença é uma assinatura clara dos modelos de decaimento do vácuo que uma eventual observação poderia dar pistas empíricas sobre o assunto. No entanto, os modos de alta frequência são amortecidos ainda mais rápido do que na cosmologia padrão, tanto na era da radiação e da matéria-vácuo. As quantidades físicas das ondas gravitacionais, como o módulo da função de modos, espectros de potência e de densidade de energia de onda gravitacional geradas em diferentes eras cosmológicas também foram avaliadas explicitamente. O segundo modelo estudado é um decaimento do vácuo da forma $\\Lambda \\propto H^3$. Este modelo leva uma cosmologia plana não singular que é denominado completo no sentido de que a evolução cósmica ocorre entre duas eras de Sitter extremas. A particularidade que torna interessante este modelo é que a transição do início da era de Sitter era para a fase da radiação é suave evitando o graceful exit problem. A equação gravitacional é derivada e sua parte dependente do tempo foi integrada numericamente num período relevante previamente delimitado, as soluções das ondas gravitacionais para as outras eras foram calculadas analiticamente. Os espectros de hoje das ondas gravitacionais foram calculados e comparados com os cálculos padrão onde é assumida uma transição abrupta. Verificou-se que o fundo estocástico de ondas gravitacionais é muito semelhante ao previsto pelo modelo de concordância cósmica mais a inflação, exceto para as frequências mais altas.

The existence of cosmic strings was proposed in the mid-seventies as a by-product of the various phase transitions that occured in the early Universe. Cosmic strings are one-dimensional topological defects; structures of extremely high energy density with infinitesimal widths and lengths of cosmological size. After they were proposed, cosmic strings with GUT energy scales became very popular as a potential source for galaxy formation, but after CMB observations ruled out this possibility, they stopped attracting much scientific attention. The whole field was revived as part of superstring theory, where the formation of cosmic (super)string networks is a very common characteristic of brane inflation models, allowing them to acquire energies over a much more extended range. Attempts to detect cosmic strings centers on the three most basic observational signatures they create: CMB anisotropies, gravitational lensing events and the stochastic gravitational wave background they are expected to have created. So far, no detection of cosmic strings has been achieved. Their non-detection has inevitably led to setting constraints on their most important characteristic; their lineal energy density (or tension) which describes their energy scale. The topic of this thesis is how to use pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) in order to set constraints on the string tension. The limits PTAs can set on the amplitude of the stochastic gravitational wave background at ~nHz frequencies can be used to set constraints on the string tension. Such an effort is much more complicated than CMB or gravitational lensing investigations due to the large number of unknown cosmic string model parameters which are involved and for which, not only we do not have any observational evidence for their value, but moreover, they can acquire values over very wide ranges. So far, previous investigations were based on assumptions about these parameters and on the specific gravitational wave emission mechanism from cosmic string loops. In this work we have constructed a new code to reproduce the gravitational wave background from a cosmic string network, based on the widely accepted one scale model. Using this, we have performed numerous simulations to study the effects on the gravitational wave spectrum for each cosmic string model parameter, covering the whole parameter space of interest for each of them. Moreover, we have also extended the application of our code in order to describe cosmic string networks which create loops on more than one scale, models of which have recently appeared in the literature. In particular, we have investigated cosmic string networks which create loops at two distinct scales and loops with scales described by a log-normal distribution After studying the properties of the gravitational wave spectrum from cosmic strings, we combined our simulations with the most stringent limit so far on the stochastic gravitational wave background imposed by the EPTA. This limit is provided as a function of the slope of the gravitational wave background and we have also used this information for the first time to acquire even more accurate results. In our approach, we did not make any assumption about the values of the cosmic string model parameters, investigating all possibilities and we managed to compute a conservative and completely general constraint on the cosmic string tension, G mu<5.3x10 -7, which is slightly weaker than the current constraints set by CMB and gravitational lensing. We concluded our work by estimating the projected constraints that are expected to be achieved by near future experiments like LEAP, and ultimately by the SKA, to find an improvement of at least two orders of magnitude, significantly outperforming the expected constraints by future CMB investigations.

We present UV, optical, and near-infrared (NIR) photometry of the first electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave source from Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO)/Virgo, the binary neutron star merger GW170817. Our data set extends from the discovery of the optical counterpart at 0.47-18.5 days post-merger, and includes observations with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), Gemini-South/ FLAMINGOS-2 (GS/F2), and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The spectral energy distribution (SED) inferred from this photometry at 0.6 days is well described by a blackbody model with T approximate to 8300 K, a radius of R approximate to 4.5 x 10(14) cm (corresponding to an expansion velocity of v approximate to 0.3c), and a bolometric luminosity of L-bol approximate to 5 x 10(41) erg s(-1). At 1.5 days we find a multi-component SED across the optical and NIR, and subsequently we observe rapid fading in the UV and blue optical bands and significant reddening of the optical/ NIR colors. Modeling the entire data set, we find that models with heating from radioactive decay of Ni-56, or those with only a single component of opacity from r-process elements, fail to capture the rapid optical decline and red optical/NIR colors. Instead, models with two components consistent with lanthanide-poor and lanthanide-rich ejecta provide a good fit to the data; the resulting "blue" component has M-ej(blue) approximate to 0.01 M-circle dot and v(ej)(blue) approximate to 0.3c, and the "red" component has M-cj(red) approximate to 0.04 M-circle dot and v(cj)(red) approximate to 0.1 c. These ejecta masses are broadly consistent with the estimated r-process production rate required to explain the Milky Way r-process abundances, providing the first evidence that binary neutron star (BNS) mergers can be a dominant site of r-process enrichment.

Orientadores: Anderson Campos Fauth, Cecilia Bertoni Martha Hadler Chirenti / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T06:58:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Souza_GibranHenriquede_M.pdf: 5723676 bytes, checksum: 46d33c50292611540243a93798239014 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Usando como base um código computacional que integra numericamente as equações TOV, que descrevem o interior de corpos relativísticos de simetria esférica, com a equação de estado SLy, que fornece a pressão em função da densidade para a matéria nuclear em condições extremas se comparadas à matéria nuclear convencional, conseguimos descrever uma estrela de nêutrons realista e com esta simular a emissão de ondas gravitacionais, com a previsão de como seria seu tempo de decaimento e frequência / Abstract: Using as base a computer code that integrates numerically the TOV equations, which describe the interior of relativistic bodies of spherical symmetry, with the SLy equation of state, which provides the pressure in function of density for nuclear matter under extreme conditions when compared with conventional nuclear matter, we describe a realistic neutron star and simulate the emission of gravitational waves, with the predictions of how its decay rate and frequency will be / Mestrado / Física / Mestre em Física

La première détection d'une Onde Gravitationnelle (OG) a été faite le 14 Septembre 2015 par la collaboration LIGO-Virgo avec les deux détecteurs de LIGO. Elle a été émise par la fusion de deux Trous Noirs, fournissant ainsi la première preuve directe de l’existence des Trous Noirs. Advanced Virgo est la version améliorée de l’interféromètre Virgo et il va rejoindre les détecteurs LIGO dans les mois qui suivent. Le passage d'une OG induit un changement différentiel de la distance entre masses-test (uniquement sensibles à la force gravitationnelle). Cette variation de distance est proportionnelle à l'amplitude de l'OG, néanmoins le déplacement le plus grand qui peut être observé depuis la Terre est de l'ordre de 10⁻¹⁹ m/sqrt(Hz) en terme de densité spectrale. C'est pour cela que l’interféromètre de Michelson est l'instrument idéal pour détecter cet effet différentiel. Les détecteurs d’OG utilisent des miroirs suspendus, qui se comportent comme masses-test. Le passage d'une OG va produire un changement dans la distance entre les miroirs qui va modifier la condition d’interférence et donc une variation de puissance lumineuse mesurée par la photodiode de détection. Cependant, un Michelson simple n'est pas assez sensible et des améliorations ont été ajoutées. La première génération de détecteurs a ajouté des cavités Fabry-Pérot dans les bras pour augmenter le chemin optique. De plus un nouveau miroir a été ajouté pour recirculer la lumière réfléchie vers le laser et augmenter la puissance effective, en créant une nouvelle cavité connue comme Power Recycling Cavity (PRC). Son effet est d’autant plus important que le Michelson est en fait optimalement réglé sur une frange noire. Tous les miroirs du détecteur ressentent le bruit sismique et les longueurs des cavités, entre autres, changent en permanence. Il est donc nécessaire de contrôler activement la position longitudinale et angulaire des cavités pour les maintenir en résonance. Pendant ma thèse j'ai étudié le contrôle de Advanced Virgo d’abord en simulation puis pendant le commissioning lui-même. D'abord j'ai simulé la stratégie de contrôle utilisée dans Virgo avec des simulations modales. L'objectif était de vérifier si la même stratégie pouvait être appliquée à Advanced Virgo ou s'il fallait l'adapter. Avec Advanced Virgo les cavités Fabry-Pérot ont une finesse plus grande ce qui entraîne de nouveaux effets dynamiques et qui demande une stratégie de contrôle spéciale, stratégie que j'ai modifiée pour l'adapter aux besoins du commissioning. Concernant la PRC, j’ai étudié l'impact de sa stabilité dans le fonctionnement de l’interféromètre. Comme elle est très proche de la région d’instabilité, l’onde lumineuse être très sensible à l'alignement et a l'adaptation du faisceau à la cavité. J’ai vérifié avec les simulations son impact sur les contrôles longitudinaux, qui peuvent devenir instables, et une solution a été validée. Ensuite j'ai utilisé cette information pour le commissioning d'Advanced Virgo. Dans cette thèse les détails du commissioning des contrôles longitudinal et angulaire de l’interféromètre sont présentés. La stabilisation en fréquence est aussi présentée, puisqu'elle joue un rôle très important dans le contrôle de l’interféromètre car étant le bruit dominant. / The first detection of a Gravitational Wave (GW) was done on September 14 th of 2015 by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration with the two LIGO detectors. It was emitted by the merger of a Binary Black Hole, providing the first direct proof of the existence of Black Holes. Advanced Virgo is the upgraded version of the Virgo interferometer and it will join the LIGO detectors in the next months. The passage of a GW on Earth induces a change on the distance between test masses (experiencing only the gravitational interaction) in a differential way. This distance variation is proportional to the amplitude of the GW however the largest displacement observable on Earth will be of the order of 10⁻¹⁹ m/sqrt(Hz). Taking this in account, a Michelson interferometer is the ideal instrument to detect this differential effect. GWs detectors will use suspended mirrors to behave as test masses. The passage of a GW will cause a change on the distance between the mirrors that will spoil the interference condition, allowing some light to leak to the detection photodiode. However, a simple Michelson interferometer does not provide enough sensitivity. For this reason the first generation of detectors added Fabry-Perot cavities in the arms, in order to increase the optical path. A second change was the addition of an extra mirror in order to recycle the light that comes back towards the laser, to increase the effective power, creating a new cavity also known as Power Recycling Cavity (PRC). Its effect is more important when the Michelson is tuned in an optimal way in a dark fringe. All the mirrors of the detector are affected by the seismic noise and so their distance is continuously changing. It is necessary to control the longitudinal and angular position of the cavities in order to keep them at resonance. During my thesis I have studied the control of Advanced Virgo using simulation and during the commissioning itself. First of all I have simulated the control strategy used in Virgo using modal simulations. The aim was to check if the same strategy could be applied to Advanced Virgo or if it needs adaptation. In Advanced Virgo the Fabry-Perot cavities have a higher finesse, which arises new dynamical problems and requires a special control strategy that I have modified to match the commissioning needs. Regarding the PRC, we have studied the impact of its stability on the performance of the interferometer. As it is very close from the instability region, the electrical field inside will be very sensitive to alignment and matching of the laser beam. We have checked using simulations its impact on the longitudinal controls, which can become unstable, and a solution has been validated. Then I have used this information during the commissioning of the Advanced Virgo detector. In this thesis the details of the commissioning of the longitudinal and angular control of the interferometer will be presented. It includes the frequency stabilization, which has a key role in the control of the interferometer, since it is the dominant noise.

According to general relativity, appropriately accelerated masses emit gravitational radiation. With the gravitational-wave detectors reaching sufficient sensitivities for detecting astrophysical gravitational-waves, a new messenger for observing the astrophysical events has become available. However, with the current number of gravitational-wave detections, there are many unanswered questions whose answers are waiting to be discovered. Analogous to the Malmquist bias in other astronomical observation techniques, gravitational-wave detections also have an observation bias. In order to infer astrophysical distribution of the properties of gravitational-wave events from detections, this bias needs to be well understood. In this collection of studies, by investigating statistical and physical properties of gravitational-wave detection, an efficient semi-analytical method for calculating the bias was found. Further, the estimated bias was used for doing the first unmodelled inference on the mass distribution of binary black holes which showed additional structures not found by modelled inferences. Vast majority of gravitational-wave detections are binary black hole mergers. One of the mysteries of binary black holes is their formation channels. There are several proposed formation scenarios none of which is strongly favored by data. One of these channels is the so-called hierarchical triple mergers which is an dynamical formation scenario expected to have in dense environments such as globular clusters. This scenario considers a bound three black hole system which gives two consecutive mergers. In this collection of studies, it was directly tested with the detections from the three observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. No significant evidence for this scenario was found, individually interesting event pairs were identified for further investigation and upper limits on the occurrence of the scenario were obtained. Gravitational-wave detectors have sensitivity on the significant portion of the sky. However, the localizations of the gravitational-wave detections are not very precise. Multi-messenger follow-ups guided by gravitational-wave detections can precisely locate the astrophysical source and gather more information by probing it with different messengers. The multi-messenger searches are done with statistical methods and it is necessary to have powerful statistical methods not to miss the valuable multi-messenger events. In the final parts of this collection of studies, optimal statistical methods for multi-messenger searches were developed and joint gravitational-wave and high-energy neutrino events were searched, both in realtime and with archival data.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第20169号 / 理博第4254号 / 新制||理||1612(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科物理学・宇宙物理学専攻 / (主査)教授 柴田 大, 教授 川合 光, 教授 井岡 邦仁 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DGAM

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第24169号 / 理博第4860号 / 新制||理||1695(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科物理学・宇宙物理学専攻 / (主査)教授 田中 貴浩, 准教授 久徳 浩太郎, 教授 橋本 幸士 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

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Since the first detection of a Gravitational Wave, the LIGO-Virgo Collaboration has worked to improve the sensitivity of their detectors. This continuous effort paid off in the last scientific run, in which the collaboration detected an average of one gravitational wave per week and collected 74 candidates in less than one year. This result was also possible due to the Frequency Independent Squeezing (FIS) implementation, which improved the Virgo detection range for the coalescence between two Binary Neutron Start (BNS) of 5-8\%. However, this incredible result was dramatically limited by different technical issues, among which the most dangerous was the mismatch between the squeezed vacuum beam and the resonance mode of the cavities. The mismatch can be modelled as a simple optical loss in the first approximation. If the beam shape of squeezed vacuum does not match the resonance mode, part of its amplitude is lost and replaced with the incoherent vacuum. However, this modelisation is valid only in simple setups, e.g. if we study the effect inside a single resonance cavity or the transmission of a mode cleaner. In the case of a more complicated system, such as a gravitational wave interferometer, the squeezed vacuum amplitude rejected by the mismatch still travels inside the optical setup. This component accumulates an extra defined by the characteristics of the mismatch, and it can recouple into the main beam reducing the effect of the quantum noise reduction technique. This issue will become more critical in the implementation of the Frequency Dependent Squeezing. This technique is an upgrade of the Frequency Independent Squeezing one. The new setup will increase the complexity of the squeezed beam path. The characterisation of this degradation mechanism requires a dedicated wavefront sensing technique. In fact, the simpler approach based on studying the resonance peak of the cavity is not enough. This method can only estimate the total amount of the optical loss generated by the mismatch, but it cannot characterise the phase shift generated by the decoupling. Without this information is impossible to estimate how the mismatched squeezed vacuum is recoupled into the main beam, and this limits the possibility to foreseen the degradation of the Quantum Noise Reduction technique. For this reason, the Padova-Trento Group studied different techniques for characterising Mode Matching. In particular, we proposed implementing the Mode Converter technique developed by Syracuse University. This technique can fully characterise the mismatch of a spherical beam, and it can be the first approach to monitoring the mismatch. However, this method is not enough for the Frequency Dependent Squeezer source since it cannot detect the mismatch generated by the astigmatism of the incoming beam. In fact, the Frequency Dependent Squeezer Source case uses off-axis reflective telescopes to reduce the power losses generated by transmissive optics. This setup used curved mirrors that induce small astigmatic aberrations as a function of the beam incident angle. These aberrations are present by design, and the standard Mode Converter Technique will not detect them. To overcome this issue, I proposed an upgrade of the Mode Converter technique, which can extend the detection to this kind of aberration.