Ettore Majorana

Octopus is a simulation software specifically developed to calculate the response of a given mechanical system. The initial purpose of its development was to support the design and the commissioning of the superattenuator (SA), i.e., the vibration isolator designed to inhibit the transmission of the seismic noise at the level of the test mass of the Virgo gravitational waves detector. octopus analytically computes the transfer functions of a complex mechanical system using the impedance matrix formalism in the frequency domain and provides an advanced and versatile mechanical simulation tool. This methodology allows to analyze a large set of user-defined mechanical layouts. Within the context of advanced seismic isolation system design, the present software allows to accurately estimate the behavior of specific mechanical components in terms of performance and general requirements achievement, both in open loop and also when feedback control loops are implemented. In the present work, several topics will be addressed. First, the mathematical principles behind the impedance formalism will be introduced, focusing on the modeling of basic elements, which constitute the principal blocks used to develop and build complex mechanical models. Then, as case studies, two examples of mechanical systems models will be presented: the computation of the thermal noise of a body suspended by an elastic beam and the complete model of a superattenuator. To validate the accuracy of the simulation tool, comparisons with experimental measurements will be given in both cases.

Gravitational waves are expected to be produced from neutron star oscillations associated with magnetar giant flares and short bursts. We present the results of a search for short-duration (milliseconds to seconds) and long-duration (∼100 s) transient gravitational waves from 13 magnetar short bursts observed during Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo, and KAGRA’s third observation run. These 13 bursts come from two magnetars, SGR 1935+2154 and Swift J1818.0−1607. We also include three other electromagnetic burst events detected by Fermi-GBM which were identified as likely coming from one or more magnetars, but they have no association with a known magnetar. No magnetar giant flares were detected during the analysis period. We find no evidence of gravitational waves associated with any of these 16 bursts. We place upper limits on the rss of the integrated incident gravitational-wave strain that reach 3.6 × 10⁻²³ / Hz at 100 Hz for the short-duration search and 1.1 × 10⁻²² / Hz at 450 Hz for the long-duration search. For a ringdown signal at 1590 Hz targeted by the short-duration search the limit is set to 2.3 × 10⁻²² / Hz . Using the estimated distance to each magnetar, we derive upper limits on the emitted gravitational-wave energy of 1.5 × 10⁴⁴ erg (1.0 × 10⁴⁴ erg) for SGR 1935+2154 and 9.4 × 10⁴³ erg (1.3 × 10⁴⁴ erg) for Swift J1818.0−1607, for the short-duration (long-duration) search. Assuming isotropic emission of electromagnetic radiation of the burst fluences, we constrain the ratio of gravitational-wave energy to electromagnetic energy for bursts from SGR 1935+2154 with the available fluence information. The lowest of these ratios is 4.5 × 10³.

We present Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (Fermi-GBM) and Swift Burst Alert Telescope (Swift-BAT) searches for gamma-ray/X-ray counterparts to gravitational-wave (GW) candidate events identified during the third observing run of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. Using Fermi-GBM onboard triggers and subthreshold gamma-ray burst (GRB) candidates found in the Fermi-GBM ground analyses, the Targeted Search and the Untargeted Search, we investigate whether there are any coincident GRBs associated with the GWs. We also search the Swift-BAT rate data around the GW times to determine whether a GRB counterpart is present. No counterparts are found. Using both the Fermi-GBM Targeted Search and the Swift-BAT search, we calculate flux upper limits and present joint upper limits on the gamma-ray luminosity of each GW. Given these limits, we constrain theoretical models for the emission of gamma rays from binary black hole mergers.

The Einstein Telescope (ET) is a third-generation gravitational wave detector that includes a room-temperature high-frequency (ET-HF) and a cryogenic low-frequency laser interferometer (ET-LF). The cryogenic ET-LF is crucial for exploiting the full scientific potential of the ET. We present a new baseline design for the cryogenic payload that is thermally and mechanically consistent and compatible with the design sensitivity curve of the ET. The design includes two options for the heat extraction from the marionette, based on a monocrystalline high-conductivity marionette suspension fiber and a thin-wall titanium tube filled with static He-II. Following a detailed description of the design options and the suspension thermal noise (STN) modeling, we present the sensitivity curves of the two baseline designs, discuss the influence of various design parameters on the sensitivity of ET-LF, and conclude with an outlook to future R&D activities.

We use 47 gravitational wave sources from the Third LIGO–Virgo–Kamioka Gravitational Wave Detector Gravitational Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC–3) to estimate the Hubble parameter H(z), including its current value, the Hubble constant H ₀. Each gravitational wave (GW) signal provides the luminosity distance to the source, and we estimate the corresponding redshift using two methods: the redshifted masses and a galaxy catalog. Using the binary black hole (BBH) redshifted masses, we simultaneously infer the source mass distribution and H(z). The source mass distribution displays a peak around 34 M _⊙, followed by a drop-off. Assuming this mass scale does not evolve with the redshift results in a H(z) measurement, yielding H 0 = 68 − 8 + 12 km s − 1 Mpc − 1 (68% credible interval) when combined with the H ₀ measurement from GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart. This represents an improvement of 17% with respect to the H ₀ estimate from GWTC–1. The second method associates each GW event with its probable host galaxy in the catalog GLADE+, statistically marginalizing over the redshifts of each event’s potential hosts. Assuming a fixed BBH population, we estimate a value of H 0 = 68 − 6 + 8 km s − 1 Mpc − 1 with the galaxy catalog method, an improvement of 42% with respect to our GWTC–1 result and 20% with respect to recent H ₀ studies using GWTC–2 events. However, we show that this result is strongly impacted by assumptions about the BBH source mass distribution; the only event which is not strongly impacted by such assumptions (and is thus informative about H ₀) is the well-localized event GW190814.

During April 7–21 2020, KAGRA conducted its first scientific observation in conjunction with the GEO600 detector. The dominant noise sources during this run were found to be suspension control noise in the low-frequency range and acoustic noise in the mid-frequency range. In this study, we show that their contributions in the observational data can be reduced by a signal processing method called independent component analysis (ICA). The model of ICA is extended from that studied in the initial KAGRA data analysis to account for frequency dependence, while the linearity and stationarity of the coupling between the interferometer and the noise sources are still assumed. We identify optimal witness sensors in the application of ICA, leading to successful mitigation of these two dominant contributions. We also analyze the stability of the transfer functions for the entire two weeks of data to investigate the applicability of the proposed subtraction method in gravitational wave searches.

KAGRA, the underground and cryogenic gravitational-wave detector, was operated for its solo observation from February 25 to March 10, 2020, and its first joint observation with the GEO 600 detector from April 7 to April 21, 2020 (O3GK). This study presents an overview of the input optics systems of the KAGRA detector, which consist of various optical systems, such as a laser source, its intensity and frequency stabilization systems, modulators, a Faraday isolator, mode-matching telescopes, and a high-power beam dump. These optics were successfully delivered to the KAGRA interferometer and operated stably during the observations. The laser frequency noise was observed to limit the detector sensitivity above a few kilohertz, whereas the laser intensity did not significantly limit the detector sensitivity.

We present a targeted search for continuous gravitational waves (GWs) from 236 pulsars using data from the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo (O3) combined with data from the second observing run (O2). Searches were for emission from the l = m = 2 mass quadrupole mode with a frequency at only twice the pulsar rotation frequency (single harmonic) and the l = 2, m = 1, 2 modes with a frequency of both once and twice the rotation frequency (dual harmonic). No evidence of GWs was found, so we present 95% credible upper limits on the strain amplitudes h ₀ for the single-harmonic search along with limits on the pulsars’ mass quadrupole moments Q ₂₂ and ellipticities ε. Of the pulsars studied, 23 have strain amplitudes that are lower than the limits calculated from their electromagnetically measured spin-down rates. These pulsars include the millisecond pulsars J0437−4715 and J0711−6830, which have spin-down ratios of 0.87 and 0.57, respectively. For nine pulsars, their spin-down limits have been surpassed for the first time. For the Crab and Vela pulsars, our limits are factors of ∼100 and ∼20 more constraining than their spin-down limits, respectively. For the dual-harmonic searches, new limits are placed on the strain amplitudes C ₂₁ and C ₂₂. For 23 pulsars, we also present limits on the emission amplitude assuming dipole radiation as predicted by Brans-Dicke theory.