papers

Publications (72)

gr-qc2020

Towards the routine use of subdominant harmonics in gravitational-wave inference: re-analysis of GW190412 with generation X waveform models

Marta Colleoni, Maite Mateu-Lucena, Héctor Estellés +5

We re-analyse the gravitational-wave event GW190412 with state-of-the-art phenomenological waveform models. This event, which has been associated with a black hole merger, is inter…

gr-qc2018

Time-domain effective-one-body gravitational waveforms for coalescing compact binaries with nonprecessing spins, tides and self-spin effects

Alessandro Nagar, Sebastiano Bernuzzi, Walter Del Pozzo +21

We present TEOBResumS, a new effective-one-body (EOB) waveform model for nonprecessing (spin-aligned) and tidally interacting compact binaries.Spin-orbit and spin-spin effects are…

gr-qc2021

New effective precession spin for modeling multimodal gravitational waveforms in the strong-field regime

Lucy M. Thomas, Patricia Schmidt, Geraint Pratten

Accurately modelling the complete gravitational-wave signal from precessing binary black holes through the late inspiral, merger and ringdown remains a challenging problem. The lac…

gr-qc2017

Impact of Numerical Relativity information on effective-one-body waveform models

Alessandro Nagar, Gunnar Riemenschneider, Geraint Pratten

We present a comprehensive comparison of the spin-aligned effective-one-body (EOB) waveform model of Nagar et al. [Phys. Rev. D93, 044046 (2016)], informed using 40 numerical-relat…

gr-qc2026

Binary black hole scattering with generic spins

Adam Clark, Geraint Pratten, Patricia Schmidt

In this Letter, we confront high-order post-Minkowskian (PM) predictions for generic-spin black-hole scattering with numerical-relativity (NR) simulations for the first time, targe…

gr-qc2014

A simple model of complete precessing black-hole-binary gravitational waveforms

Mark Hannam, Patricia Schmidt, Alejandro Bohé +5

The construction of a model of the gravitational-wave (GW) signal from generic configurations of spinning-black-hole binaries, through inspiral, merger and ringdown, is one of the…

gr-qc2022

Characterization of merging black holes with two precessing spins

Viola De Renzis, Davide Gerosa, Geraint Pratten +2

Spin precession in merging black-hole binaries is a treasure trove for both astrophysics and fundamental physics. There are now well-established strategies to infer from gravitatio…

astro-ph.CO2016

3D Weak Lensing: Modified Theories of Gravity

Geraint Pratten, Dipak Munshi, Patrick Valageas +1

Weak lensing (WL) promises to be a particularly sensitive probe of both the growth of large scale structure (LSS) as well as the fundamental relation between matter density perturb…

astro-ph.HE2026

Orbital eccentricity in a neutron star - black hole merger

Gonzalo Morras, Geraint Pratten, Patricia Schmidt

The observation of gravitational waves from merging black holes and neutron stars provides a unique opportunity to discern information about their astrophysical environment. Two si…

astro-ph.CO2013

Effects of Linear Redshift Space Distortions and Perturbation Theory on BAOs: A 3D Spherical Analysis

Geraint Pratten, Dipak Munshi

The Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) are features in the matter power spectrum on scales of order 100-150 h^{-1} Mpc that promise to be a powerful tool to constrain and test cosm…

gr-qc2025

Strong Field Scattering of Two Black Holes: Exploring Gauge Flexibility

Adam Clark, Geraint Pratten

Recent advances in post-Minkowskian (PM) gravity provide new avenues for the high precision modeling of compact binaries. In conjunction with the effective one body (EOB) formalism…

astro-ph.CO2014

Reconstructing the Thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect in 3D

Geraint Pratten, Dipak Munshi

The thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect measures the line-of-sight projection of the thermal pressure of free electrons and lacks any redshift information. By cross correlating…

gr-qc2023

Precision tracking of massive black hole spin evolution with LISA

Geraint Pratten, Patricia Schmidt, Hannah Middleton +1

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will play a vital role in constraining the origin and evolution of massive black holes throughout the Universe. In this study we use a…

gr-qc2022

New Horizons for Fundamental Physics with LISA

K. G. Arun, Enis Belgacem, Robert Benkel +138

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) has the potential to reveal wonders about the fundamental theory of nature at play in the extreme gravity regime, where the gravitatio…

gr-qc2025

Strong Field Scattering of Black Holes: Assessing Resummation Strategies

Shaun Swain, Geraint Pratten, Patricia Schmidt

Recent developments in post-Minkowksian (PM) calculations have led to a fast-growing body of weak-field perturbative information. As such, there is major interest within the gravit…

gr-qc2026

Waveform Modelling for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

LISA Consortium Waveform Working Group, Niayesh Afshordi, Sarp Akçay +144

LISA, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, will usher in a new era in gravitational-wave astronomy. As the first anticipated space-based gravitational-wave detector, it will exp…

gr-qc2020

Setting the cornerstone for the IMRPhenomX family of models for gravitational waves from compact binaries: The dominant harmonic for non-precessing quasi-circular black holes

Geraint Pratten, Sascha Husa, Cecilio Garcia-Quiros +4

In this paper we present IMRPhenomXAS, a thorough overhaul of the IMRPhenomD [1,2] waveform model, which describes the dominant spherical harmonic mode of non-pr…

gr-qc2023

Strong-field scattering of two spinning black holes: Numerical Relativity versus post-Minkowskian gravity

Piero Rettegno, Geraint Pratten, Lucy Thomas +2

Highly accurate models of the gravitational-wave signal from coalescing compact binaries are built by completing analytical computations of the binary dynamics with non-perturbativ…

astro-ph.HE2025

Stars or gas? Constraining the hardening processes of massive black-hole binaries with LISA

Alice Spadaro, Riccardo Buscicchio, David Izquierdo-Villalba +3

Massive black-hole binaries will be the loudest sources detectable by LISA. These systems are predicted to form during the hierarchical assembly of cosmic structures and coalesce b…

astro-ph.CO2012

Non-Gaussianity in Large Scale Structure and Minkowski Functionals

Geraint Pratten, Dipak Munshi

Minkowski Functionals (MFs) are topological statistics that have become one of many standard tools used for investigating the statistical properties of cosmological random fields.…

gr-qc2019

A Multipolar Effective One Body Model for Non-Spinning Black Hole Binaries

Alessandro Nagar, Geraint Pratten, Gunnar Riemenschneider +1

We introduce \TEOBiResumSM{}, a nonspinning inspiral-merger-ringdown waveform model built within the effective one body (EOB) framework that includes gravitational waveform modes b…

gr-qc2023

Inferring eccentricity evolution from observations of coalescing binary black holes

Alice Bonino, Rossella Gamba, Patricia Schmidt +5

The origin and formation of stellar-mass binary black holes remains an open question that can be addressed by precise measurements of the binary and orbital parameters from their g…

gr-qc2020

Measuring precession in asymmetric compact binaries

Geraint Pratten, Patricia Schmidt, Riccardo Buscicchio +1

Gravitational-wave observations of merging compact binaries hold the key to precision measurements of the objects' masses and spins. General-relativistic precession, caused by spin…

gr-qc2017

The most powerful astrophysical events: Gravitational-wave peak luminosity of binary black holes as predicted by numerical relativity

David Keitel, Xisco Jiménez Forteza, Sascha Husa +9

For a brief moment, a binary black hole (BBH) merger can be the most powerful astrophysical event in the visible universe. Here we present a model fit for this gravitational-wave p…

astro-ph.HE2020

Gravitational-wave selection effects using neural-network classifiers

Davide Gerosa, Geraint Pratten, Alberto Vecchio

We present a novel machine-learning approach to estimate selection effects in gravitational-wave observations. Using techniques similar to those commonly employed in image classifi…

astro-ph.HE2022

Prospects for distinguishing dynamical tides in inspiralling binary neutron stars with third generation gravitational-wave detectors

Natalie Williams, Geraint Pratten, Patricia Schmidt

Tidal effects in gravitational-wave (GW) observations from binary neutron star mergers have the potential to probe ultra-dense matter and shed light on the unknown nuclear equation…

gr-qc2024

The impact of selection biases on tests of general relativity with gravitational-wave inspirals

Ryan Magee, Maximiliano Isi, Ethan Payne +4

Tests of general relativity with gravitational wave observations from merging compact binaries continue to confirm Einstein's theory of gravity with increasing precision. However,…

gr-qc2025

Improved post-Newtonian waveform model for inspiralling precessing-eccentric compact binaries

Gonzalo Morras, Geraint Pratten, Patricia Schmidt

The measurement of spin-precession and orbital eccentricity in gravitational-wave (GW) signals is a key priority in GW astronomy, as these effects not only provide insights into th…

gr-qc2024

What is the nature of GW230529? An exploration of the gravitational lensing hypothesis

Justin Janquart, David Keitel, Rico K. L. Lo +26

On the 29th of May 2023, the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration observed a compact binary coalescence event consistent with a neutron star-black hole merger, though the heavier object…

gr-qc2026

Fast neural network surrogate for multimodal effective-one-body gravitational waveforms from generically precessing compact binaries

Christopher Whittall, Geraint Pratten

Gravitational waveform templates are a key ingredient for the detection and characterization of gravitational waves emitted by compact binary mergers in the universe. These templat…

gr-qc2024

Phenomenological model of gravitational self-force enhanced tides in inspiralling binary neutron stars

Natalie Williams, Patricia Schmidt, Geraint Pratten

Gravitational waves from inspiralling binary neutron stars provide unique access to ultra-dense nuclear matter and offer the ability to constrain the currently unknown neutron star…

gr-qc2026

High-Post-Newtonian-Order Dynamics Induced by Tail-of-Tail Interactions: The Non-Geodesic Terms

Geraint Pratten, G. Pratten

We compute the tail-of-tail contribution to the conservative dynamics of eccentric, non-spinning compact binaries to relative 1PN order and to . Using the

gr-qc2019

Black holes, gravitational waves and fundamental physics: a roadmap

Leor Barack, Vitor Cardoso, Samaya Nissanke +203

The grand challenges of contemporary fundamental physics---dark matter, dark energy, vacuum energy, inflation and early universe cosmology, singularities and the hierarchy problem-…

astro-ph.IM2021

Mode-by-mode Relative Binning: Fast Likelihood Estimation for Gravitational Waveforms with Spin-Orbit Precession and Multiple Harmonics

Nathaniel Leslie, Liang Dai, Geraint Pratten

Faster likelihood evaluation enhances the efficiency of gravitational wave signal analysis. We present Mode-by-mode Relative Binning (MRB), a new method designed for obtaining fast…

astro-ph.IM2026

Extending Ground-Based Gravitational-Wave Sensitivity to 5 Hz

Amit Singh Ubhi, Lari Koponen, Jiri Smetana +11

Extending the sensitivity of terrestrial gravitational-wave detectors below 20 Hz is a long-standing challenge, limited by ground motion and inertial sensing noise. In this letter,…

astro-ph.HE2026

Prospects for characterizing Population III remnants with next-generation gravitational-wave observatories

N. V. Krishnendu, Patricia Schmidt, Geraint Pratten

The most distant gravitational-wave (GW) detection by LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA so far is a binary black hole (BBH) merger at a redshift of , corresponding to a luminosity d…

astro-ph.HE2020

Constraining the lensing of binary neutron stars from their stochastic background

Riccardo Buscicchio, Christopher J. Moore, Geraint Pratten +2

Gravitational wave (GW) transients from binary neutron star (BNS) coalescences can, in principle, be subject to gravitational lensing thereby increasing the amplitude and signal-to…

gr-qc2021

Computationally efficient models for the dominant and sub-dominant harmonic modes of precessing binary black holes

Geraint Pratten, Cecilio García-Quirós, Marta Colleoni +8

We present IMRPhenomXPHM, a phenomenological frequency-domain model for the gravitational-wave signal emitted by quasi-circular precessing binary black holes, which incorporates mu…

gr-qc2020

Validity of common modelling approximations for precessing binary black holes with higher-order modes

Antoni Ramos-Buades, Patricia Schmidt, Geraint Pratten +1

The current paradigm for constructing waveforms from precessing compact binaries is to first construct a waveform in a non-inertial, co-precessing binary source frame followed by a…

gr-qc2021

The Next Generation Global Gravitational Wave Observatory: The Science Book

Vicky Kalogera, B. S. Sathyaprakash, Matthew Bailes +88

The next generation of ground-based gravitational-wave detectors will observe coalescences of black holes and neutron stars throughout the cosmos, thousands of them with exceptiona…

gr-qc2015

Covariant Perturbations of f(R) Black Holes: The Weyl Terms

Geraint Pratten

In this paper we revisit non-spherical perturbations of the Schwarzschild black hole in the context of gravity. Previous studies were able to demonstrate the stability of th…

astro-ph.HE2023

Implications of pulsar timing array observations for LISA detections of massive black hole binaries

Nathan Steinle, Hannah Middleton, Christopher J. Moore +6

Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) and the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will open complementary observational windows on massive black-hole binaries (MBHBs), i.e., with masse…

gr-qc2026

Tests of General Relativity with GW230529: a neutron star merging with a lower mass-gap compact object

Elise M. Sänger, Soumen Roy, Michalis Agathos +16

On May 29, 2023, the LIGO Livingston observatory detected the gravitational-wave signal GW230529_181500 from the merger of a neutron star with a lower mass-gap compact object. Its…

gr-qc2026

Post-Newtonian inspiral waveform model for eccentric precessing binaries with higher-order modes and matter effects

Gonzalo Morras, Geraint Pratten, Patricia Schmidt +1

We introduce pyEFPEHM, a post-Newtonian (PN) inspiral waveform model for eccentric and spin-precessing compact binaries that includes higher-order modes and matter effects. Accurat…

gr-qc2022

Accelerating multimodal gravitational waveforms from precessing compact binaries with artificial neural networks

Lucy M. Thomas, Geraint Pratten, Patricia Schmidt

Gravitational waves from the coalescences of black hole and neutron stars afford us the unique opportunity to determine the sources' properties, such as their masses and spins, wit…

gr-qc2020

IMRPhenomXHM: A multi-mode frequency-domain model for the gravitational wave signal from non-precessing black-hole binaries

Cecilio García-Quirós, Marta Colleoni, Sascha Husa +5

We present the IMRPhenomXHM frequency domain phenomenological waveform model for the inspiral, merger and ringdown of quasi-circular non-precessing black hole binaries. The model e…

gr-qc2021

A generalized precession parameter to interpret gravitational-wave data

Davide Gerosa, Matthew Mould, Daria Gangardt +3

Originally designed for waveform approximants, the effective precession parameter is the most commonly used quantity to characterize spin-precession effects in grav…

hep-ex2024

Premerger observation and characterization of massive black hole binaries

Gareth Cabourn Davies, Ian Harry, Michael J. Williams +11

We demonstrate an end-to-end technique for observing and characterizing massive black hole binary signals before they merge with the LISA space-based gravitational-wave observatory…

gr-qc2020

A multipolar effective one body waveform model for spin-aligned black hole binaries

Alessandro Nagar, Gunnar Riemenschneider, Geraint Pratten +2

We introduce \TEOBiResumSM{}, an improved version of the effective-one-body (EOB) waveform model \TEOBResumS{} for spin-aligned, coalescing black hole binaries, that includes subdo…

astro-ph.CO2015

Galaxy Clustering in 3D and Modified Gravity Theories

Dipak Munshi, Geraint Pratten, Patrick Valageas +2

We study Modified Gravity (MG) theories by modelling the redshifted matter power spectrum in a spherical Fourier-Bessel (sFB) basis. We use a fully non-linear description of the re…

gr-qc2025

The Science of the Einstein Telescope

Adrian Abac, Raul Abramo, Simone Albanesi +485

Einstein Telescope (ET) is the European project for a gravitational-wave (GW) observatory of third-generation. In this paper we present a comprehensive discussion of its science ob…

gr-qc2026

Improved parametrized test of general relativity using the IMRPhenomX waveform family: Including higher harmonics and precession

Soumen Roy, Maria Haney, Geraint Pratten +2

When testing general relativity (GR) with gravitational wave observations, parametrized tests of deviations from the expected strong-field source dynamics are one of the most widel…

gr-qc2020

A first survey of spinning eccentric black hole mergers: Numerical relativity simulations, hybrid waveforms, and parameter estimation

Antoni Ramos-Buades, Sascha Husa, Geraint Pratten +5

We analyze a new numerical relativity dataset of spinning but nonprecessing binary black holes on eccentric orbits, with eccentricities from approximately to , with dime…

astro-ph.CO2017

Effect of lensing non-Gaussianity on the CMB power spectra

Antony Lewis, Geraint Pratten

Observed CMB anisotropies are lensed, and the lensed power spectra can be calculated accurately assuming the lensing deflections are Gaussian. However, the lensing deflections are…

gr-qc2025

A geometric template bank for the detection of spinning low-mass compact binaries with moderate orbital eccentricity

Khun Sang Phukon, Patricia Schmidt, Geraint Pratten

Compact binaries on eccentric orbits are another class of gravitational-wave (GW) sources that can provide a wealth of information on binary formation pathways and astrophysical en…

gr-qc2020

Simple procedures to reduce eccentricity of binary black hole simulations

Antoni Ramos-Buades, Sascha Husa, Geraint Pratten

We present simple procedures to construct quasi-circular initial data for numerical evolutions of binary black hole spacetimes. Our method consists of using Post-Newtonian theory i…

gr-qc2026

Detection of GW200105 with a targeted eccentric search

Khun Sang Phukon, Patricia Schmidt, Gonzalo Morras +1

The neutron star -- black hole (NSBH) binary GW200105 was recently found to have significant residual orbital eccentricity at a gravitational-wave frequency of 20 Hz~\cite{Morras:2…

astro-ph.HE2026

Impact of eccentricity on the population properties of neutron star - black hole mergers

Gonzalo Morras, Geraint Pratten, Patricia Schmidt

We revisit the population properties of neutron star-black hole (NSBH) mergers using low-mass compact binary coalescences reported through GWTC-4. Employing pyEFPE, an inspiral-onl…

astro-ph.CO2020

Constraining the lensing of binary black holes from their stochastic background

Riccardo Buscicchio, Christopher J. Moore, Geraint Pratten +3

Gravitational waves (GWs) are subject to gravitational lensing in the same way as electromagnetic radiation. However, to date, no unequivocal observation of a lensed GW transient h…

gr-qc2020

Assessing gravitational-wave binary black hole candidates with Bayesian odds

Geraint Pratten, Alberto Vecchio

Gravitational waves from the coalescence of binary black holes can be distinguished from noise transients in a detector network through Bayesian model selection by exploiting the c…

gr-qc2024

Mapping eccentricity evolutions between numerical relativity and effective-one-body gravitational waveforms

Alice Bonino, Patricia Schmidt, Geraint Pratten

Orbital eccentricity in compact binaries is considered to be a key tracer of their astrophysical origin, and can be inferred from gravitational-wave observations due to its imprint…

gr-qc2023

General-relativistic precession in a black-hole binary

Mark Hannam, Charlie Hoy, Jonathan E. Thompson +24

The general-relativistic phenomenon of spin-induced orbital precession has not yet been observed in strong-field gravity. Gravitational-wave observations of binary black holes (BBH…

gr-qc2019

Gravitational-Wave Asteroseismology with Fundamental Modes from Compact Binary Inspirals

Geraint Pratten, Patricia Schmidt, Tanja Hinderer

The first detection of gravitational waves (GWs) from the binary neutron star (NS) inspiral GW170817 has opened a unique channel for probing the fundamental properties of matter at…

astro-ph.IM2026

LISA science ground segment conventions

Quentin Baghi, Stanislas Babak, Leor Barack +22

This document sets out the conventions used for data simulations, waveforms, and analysis pipelines within the Distributed Data Processing Centre (DDPC) of the Laser Interferometer…

astro-ph.CO2022

Cosmology with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

Pierre Auclair, David Bacon, Tessa Baker +177

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) has two scientific objectives of cosmological focus: to probe the expansion rate of the universe, and to understand stochastic gravita…

gr-qc2022

On the LISA science performance in observations of short-lived signals from massive black hole binary coalescences

Geraint Pratten, Antoine Klein, Christopher J. Moore +4

The observation of massive black hole binary systems is one of the main science objectives of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). The instrument's design requirements ha…

gr-qc2025

New gravitational waveform model for precessing binary neutron stars with double-spin effects

Marta Colleoni, Felip A. Ramis Vidal, Nathan K. Johnson-McDaniel +3

We present two new frequency-domain gravitational waveform models for the analysis of signals emitted by binary neutron star coalescences: IMRPhenomXAS_NRTidalv2 and IMRPhenomXP_NR…

astro-ph.HE2019

Extreme Gravity and Fundamental Physics

B. S. Sathyaprakash, Alessandra Buonanno, Luis Lehner +26

Future gravitational-wave observations will enable unprecedented and unique science in extreme gravity and fundamental physics answering questions about the nature of dynamical spa…

gr-qc2021

Rapid model comparison of equations of state from gravitational wave observation of binary neutron star coalescences

Shaon Ghosh, Xiaoshu Liu, Jolien Creighton +3

The discovery of the coalescence of binary neutron star GW170817 was a watershed moment in the field of gravitational wave astronomy. Among the rich variety of information that we…

astro-ph.HE2022

The last three years: multiband gravitational-wave observations of stellar-mass binary black holes

Antoine Klein, Geraint Pratten, Riccardo Buscicchio +10

Understanding the formation and evolution of the stellar-mass binary black holes discovered by LIGO and Virgo is a challenge that spans many areas of astrophysics, from stellar evo…

astro-ph.CO2024

Impact of post-Born lensing on the CMB

Geraint Pratten, Antony Lewis

Lensing of the CMB is affected by post-Born lensing, producing corrections to the convergence power spectrum and introducing field rotation. We show numerically that the lensing co…

astro-ph.HE2022

Impact of Dynamical Tides on the Reconstruction of the Neutron Star Equation of State

Geraint Pratten, Patricia Schmidt, Natalie Williams

Gravitational waves (GWs) from inspiralling neutron stars afford us a unique opportunity to infer the as-of-yet unknown equation of state of cold hadronic matter at supranuclear de…