Dying stars’ cocoons could be new source of gravitational waves
June 10, 2023
For the first time ever, the researchers have used state-of-the-art simulations to show that these cocoons can emit gravitational waves. And, unlike gamma-ray burst jets, cocoons’ gravitational waves should be within the frequency band that the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) can detect.
“As of today, LIGO has only detected gravitational waves from binary systems, but one day it will detect the first non-binary source of gravitational waves,” said Northwestern’s Ore Gottlieb, who led the study. “Cocoons are one of the first places we should look to for this type of source.”
Gottlieb presented this research on June 5 during a virtual press briefing at the 242nd meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
Gottlieb is a CIERA Fellow at Northwestern’s Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA). Northwestern co-authors of the study include professors Vicky Kalogera and Alexander Tchekovskoy, postdoctoral associates Sharan Banagiri and Jonatan Jacquemin-Ide and graduate student Nick Kaaz.
Continue reading in Northwestern Now’s story “Dying stars’ cocoons could be new source of gravitational waves.”
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