Measuring Kerrness in Binary Black Hole Simulation Ringdowns

Document #:

LIGO-T1600279-v6

Document type:

T - Technical notes

Abstract:

After a single black hole forms from the merger of a black hole binary, it enters the ringdown phase, radiating away energy in gravitational waves until it settles into a stationary Kerr black hole. However, the point at which the resultant spacetime becomes close to Kerr has not yet been established. Furthermore, how close to the merger phase in a gravitational waveform can LIGO apply data analysis techniques that assume that the remnant black hole is Kerr (or a perturbation thereof)? In order to address these questions, it is helpful to consider local quantities which measure the similarity of a spacetime to Kerr. We evaluate several local measures of “Kerrness” on volume data from the ringdown phase of a binary black hole simulation of the GW150914 event using the Spectral Einstein Code (SpEC). We also evaluate these quantities on single (Kerr) black hole simulations for validation.

Files in Document:

• Final Report (Nicholas_Meyer_LIGOSURF_FINAL_REPORT_2016.pdf, 673.5 kB)
• Final presentation (Nicholas_Meyer_LIGOSURF_Final_Presentation.pdf, 1.5 MB)

Other Files:

• Nicholas_Meyer_LIGOSURF_PR1_20160706.pdf (188.9 kB)
• Nicholas_Meyer_LIGOSURF_PR2_20160729.pdf (515.8 kB)
• Nicholas_Meyer_LIGOSURF_Proposal_20160515.pdf (67.8 kB)

Topics:

• GW source predictions

Authors:

• Nicholas Meyer
• Maria Okounkova
• Mark Scheel

Keywords:

SURF16

Referenced by:

• LIGO-T1700002: Final reports from LIGO SURF program, Summer 2016

Associated with Events:

held from 17 Aug 2016 to 19 Aug 2016 in 351 W. Bridge