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ABSTRACT Unlike traditional electromagnetic measurements, gravitational-wave observations are not affected by crowding and extinction. For this reason, compact object binaries orbiting around a massive black hole can be used as probes of the inner environment of the black hole in regions inaccessible to traditional astronomical measurements. The orbit of the binary’s barycentre around the massive black hole will cause a Doppler shift in the gravitational waveform, which is in principle measurable by future space-based gravitational-wave interferometers, such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). We investigate the conditions under which these Doppler shifts are observable by LISA. Our results imply that Doppler shift observations can be used to study the central region of globular clusters in the Milky Way, as well the central environment of extragalactic massive black holes.
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An experiment to measure electromagnetic memory
Abstract We describe an experiment to measure the electromagnetic analog of gravitational wave memory, the so-called electromagnetic (EM) memory. Whereas gravitational wave memory is a residual displacement of test masses, EM memory is a residual velocity (i.e. kick) of test charges. The source of gravitational wave memory is energy that is not confined to any bounded spatial region: in the case of binary black hole mergers the emitted energy of gravitational radiation as well as the recoil energy of the final black hole. Similarly, EM memory requires a source whose charges are not confined to any bounded spatial region. While particle beams can provide unbounded charges, their currents are too small to be practical for such an experiment. Instead we propose a short microwave pulse applied to the center of a long dipole antenna. In this way the measurement of the kick can be done quickly enough that the finite size of the antenna does not come into play and it acts for our purposes the same as if it were an infinite antenna.
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- PAR ID:
- 10549575
- Publisher / Repository:
- IOP Publishing
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Classical and Quantum Gravity
- Volume:
- 41
- Issue:
- 22
- ISSN:
- 0264-9381
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: Article No. 225009
- Size(s):
- Article No. 225009
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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