S. Fairhurst
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View article: Populations Of Binary Compact Objects: The Present (GWTC-4) And The Future (Einstein Telescope)
Populations Of Binary Compact Objects: The Present (GWTC-4) And The Future (Einstein Telescope) Open
Plenary talk presented at the XXI International Workshop on Neutrino Telescopes - Padova 29 September - 3 October 2025 (https://agenda.infn.it/event/44606/)
View article: Identifying eccentricity in binary black hole mergers using a harmonic decomposition of the gravitational waveform
Identifying eccentricity in binary black hole mergers using a harmonic decomposition of the gravitational waveform Open
We show that the gravitational waveform emitted by a binary on an eccentric orbit can be naturally decomposed into a series of harmonics. The frequencies of these harmonics depend upon the radial frequency, fr, determined by the time to re…
View article: Rarity of precession and higher-order multipoles in gravitational waves from merging binary black holes
Rarity of precession and higher-order multipoles in gravitational waves from merging binary black holes Open
The latest binary black hole population estimates argue for a subpopulation of unequal component mass binaries with spins that are likely small but isotropically distributed. This implies a nonzero probability of detecting spin-induced orb…
View article: Identifying Eccentricity in Binary Black Hole mergers using a Harmonic Decomposition of the Gravitational Waveform
Identifying Eccentricity in Binary Black Hole mergers using a Harmonic Decomposition of the Gravitational Waveform Open
We show that the gravitational waveform emitted by a binary on an eccentric orbit can be naturally decomposed into a series of harmonics. The frequencies of these harmonics depend upon the radial frequency, $f_{\mathrm{r}}$, determined by …
View article: The impact of astrophysical priors on parameter inference for GW230529
The impact of astrophysical priors on parameter inference for GW230529 Open
We investigate the effects of prior selection on the inferred mass and spin parameters of the neutron star–black hole merger GW230529_181500. Specifically, we explore models motivated by astrophysical considerations, including massive bina…
View article: Rarity of precession and higher-order multipoles in gravitational waves from merging binary black holes
Rarity of precession and higher-order multipoles in gravitational waves from merging binary black holes Open
The latest binary black hole population estimates argue for a subpopulation of unequal component mass binaries with spins that are likely small but isotropically distributed. This implies a non-zero probability of detecting spin-induced or…
View article: The Impact of Astrophysical Priors on Parameter Inference for GW230529
The Impact of Astrophysical Priors on Parameter Inference for GW230529 Open
We investigate the effects of prior selection on the inferred mass and spin parameters of the neutron star-black hole merger GW230529\_181500. Specifically, we explore models motivated by astrophysical considerations, including massive bin…
View article: Parameter estimation samples for heavy stellar black holes at cosmological distances with next generation gravitational-wave observatories
Parameter estimation samples for heavy stellar black holes at cosmological distances with next generation gravitational-wave observatories Open
Accompanying the paper: arXiv:2310.18158 See also the repository for the details and scripts used to generate these files.
View article: Identifying heavy stellar black holes at cosmological distances with next-generation gravitational-wave observatories
Identifying heavy stellar black holes at cosmological distances with next-generation gravitational-wave observatories Open
We investigate the detectability of single-event coalescing black hole binaries with total mass of $100\!-\!600{\, {\rm {M}}_{\odot }}$ at cosmological distances (5 ≲ z ≲ 20) with the next generation of terrestrial gravitational wave obser…
View article: Simple parameter estimation using observable features of gravitational-wave signals
Simple parameter estimation using observable features of gravitational-wave signals Open
Using simple, intuitive arguments, we discuss the expected accuracy with which astrophysical parameters can be extracted from an observed gravitational wave signal. The observation of a chirplike signal in the data allows for measurement o…
View article: Fast non-Markovian sampler for estimating gravitational-wave posteriors
Fast non-Markovian sampler for estimating gravitational-wave posteriors Open
This article introduces varaha, an open-source, fast, non-Markovian sampler for estimating gravitational-wave posteriors. varaha differs from existing nested sampling algorithms by gradually discarding regions of low likelihood, rather tha…
View article: Cosmic Explorer: A Submission to the NSF MPSAC ngGW Subcommittee
Cosmic Explorer: A Submission to the NSF MPSAC ngGW Subcommittee Open
Gravitational-wave astronomy has revolutionized humanity's view of the universe, a revolution driven by observations that no other field can make. This white paper describes an observatory that builds on decades of investment by the Nation…
View article: VARAHA: A Fast Non-Markovian sampler for estimating Gravitational-Wave posteriors
VARAHA: A Fast Non-Markovian sampler for estimating Gravitational-Wave posteriors Open
This article introduces VARAHA, an open-source, fast, non-Markovian sampler for estimating gravitational-wave posteriors. VARAHA differs from existing Nested sampling algorithms by gradually discarding regions of low likelihood, rather tha…
View article: Simple parameter estimation using observable features of gravitational-wave signals
Simple parameter estimation using observable features of gravitational-wave signals Open
Using simple, intuitive arguments, we discuss the expected accuracy with which astrophysical parameters can be extracted from an observed gravitational wave signal. The observation of a chirplike signal in the data allows for measurement o…
View article: Evidence for subdominant multipole moments and precession in merging black-hole-binaries from GWTC-2.1
Evidence for subdominant multipole moments and precession in merging black-hole-binaries from GWTC-2.1 Open
The LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA collaborations (LVK) produced a catalog containing gravitational-wave (GW) observations from the first half of the third GW observing run (O3a). This catalog, GWTC-2.1, includes for the first time a number of exception…
View article: General-relativistic precession in a black-hole binary - data release
General-relativistic precession in a black-hole binary - data release Open
This page contains the data release associated with the publication General-relativistic precession in a black-hole binary from Hannam, M. et al. In this publication we show that one of the events in the most recent LIGO-Virgo-Kagra (LVK) …
View article: General-relativistic precession in a black-hole binary - data release
General-relativistic precession in a black-hole binary - data release Open
This page contains the data release associated with the publication General-relativistic precession in a black-hole binary from Hannam, M. et al. In this publication we show that one of the events in the most recent LIGO-Virgo-Kagra (LVK) …
View article: LIGO detector characterization in the second and third observing runs
LIGO detector characterization in the second and third observing runs Open
\n The characterization of the Advanced LIGO detectors in the second and third observing runs has increased the sensitivity of the instruments, allowing for a higher number of detectable gravitational-wave signals, and provided confirmatio…
View article: Understanding How Fast Black Holes Spin by Analyzing Data from the Second Gravitational-wave Catalogue
Understanding How Fast Black Holes Spin by Analyzing Data from the Second Gravitational-wave Catalogue Open
The Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors have now observed approximately 50 black hole binary mergers, from which we can begin to infer how rapidly astrophysical black holes spin. The LIGO-Virgo Collaboration (LVC) analysis of detections up t…
View article: General-relativistic precession in a black-hole binary
General-relativistic precession in a black-hole binary Open
The general-relativistic phenomenon of spin-induced orbital precession has not yet been observed in strong-field gravity. Gravitational-wave observations of binary black holes (BBHs) are prime candidates, since we expect the astrophysical …
View article: Evidence for subdominant multipole moments and precession in merging black-hole-binaries from GWTC-2.1
Evidence for subdominant multipole moments and precession in merging black-hole-binaries from GWTC-2.1 Open
The LIGO--Virgo--KAGRA collaborations (LVK) produced a catalogue containing gravitational-wave (GW) observations from the first half of the third GW observing run (O3a). This catalogue, GWTC-2.1, includes for the first time a number of \em…
View article: The Next Generation Global Gravitational Wave Observatory: The Science Book
The Next Generation Global Gravitational Wave Observatory: The Science Book Open
The next generation of ground-based gravitational-wave detectors will observe coalescences of black holes and neutron stars throughout the cosmos, thousands of them with exceptional fidelity. The Science Book is the result of a 3-year effo…
View article: The Next Generation Global Gravitational Wave Observatory: The Science Book
The Next Generation Global Gravitational Wave Observatory: The Science Book Open
The next generation of ground-based gravitational-wave detectors will observe coalescences of black holes and neutron stars throughout the cosmos, thousands of them with exceptional fidelity. The Science Book is the result of a 3-year effo…
View article: The Next Generation Global Gravitational Wave Observatory: The Science Book
The Next Generation Global Gravitational Wave Observatory: The Science Book Open
The next generation of ground-based gravitational-wave detectors will observe coalescences of black holes and neutron stars throughout the cosmos, thousands of them with exceptional fidelity. The Science Book is the result of a 3-year effo…
View article: Understanding how fast black holes spin by analysing data from the second gravitational-wave catalogue
Understanding how fast black holes spin by analysing data from the second gravitational-wave catalogue Open
The Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors have now observed approximately 50 black-hole-binary mergers, from which we can begin to infer how rapidly astrophysical black holes spin. The LIGO-Virgo Collaboration (LVC) analysis of detections up t…
View article: Identifying when precession can be measured in gravitational waveforms
Identifying when precession can be measured in gravitational waveforms Open
In binary-black-hole systems where the black-hole spins are misaligned with the orbital angular momentum, precession effects leave characteristic modulations in the emitted gravitational waveform. Here, we investigate where in the paramete…
View article: gwastro/pycbc: 1.18.0 release of PyCBC
gwastro/pycbc: 1.18.0 release of PyCBC Open
This is the v1.18.0 release of PyCBC. update dependencies (require lalsuite, no longer require emcee) build wheels and update build infrastructure A Docker container for this release is available from the pycbc/pycbc-el7 repository on Dock…
View article: Measuring gravitational-wave higher-order multipoles
Measuring gravitational-wave higher-order multipoles Open
We investigate the observability of higher harmonics in gravitational wave\nsignals emitted during the coalescence of binary black holes. We decompose each\nmode into an overall amplitude, dependent upon the masses and spins of the\nsystem…
View article: Unveiling early black hole growth with multifrequency gravitational wave observations
Unveiling early black hole growth with multifrequency gravitational wave observations Open
Third-generation ground-based gravitational wave interferometers, like the Einstein Telescope (ET), Cosmic Explorer, and the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), will detect coalescing binary black holes over a wide mass spectrum and…