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Timing the cosmic expansion with gravitational-waves dark sirens: from compact binaries to large scale structures

Project description

Approaches for precise measurements of universe expansion with gravitational waves

For decades, scientists have faced challenges measuring the universe expansion with conflicting results hinting at potential new physics. Observing distant cosmological sources has been difficult, complicating these measurements. The ERC-funded GravitySirens project aims to use gravitational waves (‘Standard Sirens’) from cosmic sources, known as compact binary coalescences. As these waves lack redshift information essential for accurate expansion measurements, GravitySirens aims to infer this missing knowledge by linking the compact binaries with their cosmic environments. Utilising technologies such as machine learning and collaborating with observatories such as LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA, GravitySirens seeks to deliver the most accurate measurement of the cosmic expansion with gravitational-wave sources, potentially uncovering new physics and enhancing our understanding of the universe’s structure and formation processes.

Objective

For 20 years, measurements of the Universe expansion rate from close-by and far sources are in tension hinting at the presence of new physics. Our struggle to study the Universe's expansion is due to the difficulty of observing cosmological sources for which the distance is known. Gravitational Waves (GWs) from compact binary coalescences (CBCs) are emergent cosmological probes that provide directly the distance of the source thus taking the name of Standard Sirens. Unfortunately, they do not provide the other ingredient to measure the Universe expansion: the redshift.
GravitySirens is an ambitious project aiming to measure the cosmic expansion with CBCs and exploit their link with the astrophysical environment to obtain implicit redshift information. GravitySirens will focus on the population and astrophysical properties of GW sources that can allow a more precise measure of the cosmic expansion.
My team and I will exploit data delivered in the next 5 years from the GW detectors LIGO, Virgo, KAGRA, the satellite Euclid, and Arrays of Radio telescopes such as HERA, MeerKAT and SKAO. By using a mixture of population synthesis codes and semi-analytical models, we will jointly infer how fast the universe is expanding and how CBCs relate to galaxies and large-scale structures (LSS). We will use state-of-the-art technologies such as machine learning and graphical process units to construct efficient algorithms for population analyses and use scientific data delivered in the upcoming years.
GravitySirens will provide the most accurate and precise GW-based measures of the Universe expansion and measure the link between CBCs, galaxies and LSSs. On one hand, the cosmic expansion measures that GravitySirens will provide can potentially lead us to the discovery of new physics at cosmological scales. On the other hand, inferring the relationship between CBCs, galaxies and LSS tracers will point us to the processes acting for compact object formation.

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Topic(s)

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HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG

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Host institution

ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DI FISICA NUCLEARE
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 222 288,50
Address
Via Enrico Fermi 54
00044 Frascati
Italy

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Region
Centro (IT) Lazio Roma
Activity type
Research Organisations
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 222 288,50

Beneficiaries (2)

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