Date of Award

Summer 7-16-2021

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Physics

Advisor(s)

Brown, Duncan A.

Keywords

Binaries, Elliptical Orbits, Neutron Stars

Subject Categories

Astrophysics and Astronomy | Physical Sciences and Mathematics | Physics

Abstract

Since the start of the first observing run the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Advanced Virgo observatory have detected 48 binary black hole mergers and two binary neutron star mergers. Knowledge about the properties of the binary can be gained from the gravitational-wave observations. Binary neutron star systems can form with significant orbital eccentricity. Gravitational radiation efficiently removes this eccentricity from the binary's orbit as the star's inspiral together. This thesis describes a search for neutron star binaries that have an eccentric orbits when their gravitational waves enter the sensitive band of Advanced LIGO and Virgo. For the detected binary neutron star mergers GW170817 and GW190425, Bayesian parameters estomation is used to constrain the binary's orbital eccentricity. Finally, we consider the prospects of Cosmic Explorer, a planned third-generation gravitational-wave observatory, to detected eccentric binary neutron stars and measure their eccentricity. This analysis has important implications for the computational cost of the search for binaries in quasi-circular orbits with Cosmic Explorer.

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Open Access

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