Detecting Gravitational Wave Memory in the Next Galactic Core-Collapse Supernova

Phys Rev Lett. 2024 Dec 6;133(23):231401. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.231401.

Abstract

We present an approach to detecting (linear) gravitational wave memory in a Galactic core-collapse supernova using current interferometers. Gravitational wave memory is an important prediction of general relativity that has yet to be confirmed. Our approach uses a combination of linear prediction filtering and matched filtering. We present the results of our approach on data from core-collapse supernova simulations that span a range of progenitor mass and metallicity. We are able to detect gravitational wave memory out to 10 kpc. We also present the false alarm probabilities assuming an on-source window compatible with the presence of a neutrino detection.