The Gravitational Wave Memory and its Implications

by Silvia Gasparotto (IFAE)

Wednesday 20 Jul 2022, 13:00 → 14:00 Europe/Madrid

IFAE Seminar Room (IFAE)

The spectacular direct detection of gravitational waves has opened a new window to explore both the far edges of our Universe and the theory of General Relativity. Gravitational wave memory is an exciting prediction of Einstein's theory of gravity and refers to the persistent displacement in the relative position of two test masses upon the passage of GW. This effect is generated by the backreaction of the GWs leaving the source into the emission of GWs itself. In this talk, I will start by introducing the gravitational wave memory effect of a compact binary merger and discuss the features of the signal. I’ll then discuss the implications for the parameter estimations for the next-generation space-based interferometer LISA. Based on a Fisher matrix analysis, our results show that, even being a small effect, it can help to decrease the uncertainty on the distance-inclination estimation. We further investigate the prospects of detecting the memory with new population catalogs of SMBHs, relevant to state realistic LISA forecasts. If time permits, I'll also comment on other ideas to use GWs memory for fundamental physics.