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Synopsis

In 2017, the first discovery of gravitational waves from two colliding neutron stars heralded a new age of multi-messenger astronomy. But what was left over after the collision? This project aims to find out.

Description

On 17th August 2017, gravitational waves were observed for the first time from two colliding neutron stars. The event, designated GW170817, was at the same time observed across the electromagnetic spectrum in gamma-ray, infra-red, optical, X-ray, and radio emissions. These observations yielded new insights into high-energy astrophysics and dense nuclear matter, the production of heavy elements in the Universe, cosmology, and many other areas of physics and astrophysics.

But what remained after the explosion? Most probably, the remnants of the neutron stars immediately collapsed to form a black hole. But perhaps they might instead have formed a newborn neutron star which might have survived for some time -- perhaps seconds, perhaps hours. And perhaps we might also observe gravitational waves from this newborn neutron star for a time, which would tell us a lot about the physics in the extreme environment of a very young neutron star.

The Centre for Gravitational Astrophysics has developed new methods to search for gravitational waves from newborn, or "remnant", neutron stars after a neutron star collision. Students led the first-ever search for gravitational waves from a remnant neutron star after the second-ever detected neutron star collision, known as GW190425 ("the Anzac day event").

[1] B. Grace, K. Wette, S. M. Scott, Phys. Rev. D 110, 083016 (2024)

Required background

PHYS3203/6203 (General Relativity).

Experience programming in Python is essential. Experience with UNIX-based operating systems, and programming in C / C++ / Mathematica is desirable.

Research fields