Multi-messenger astrophysics

The detection of gravitational waves and photons from across the electromagnetic spectrum from the binary neutron star merger GW170817 has ushered in the era of gravitational-wave multimessenger astrophysics. Identification of an electromagnetic counterpart to gravitational-wave events allows for an independent determination of the Hubble constant as well as other cosmological parameters using "standard sirens". At MIT, we are studying the capabilities of future detector networks to constrain cosmological parameters as well as sources of systematic error that will contaminate this measurement. We are also interested in using multi-messenger observations to constrain the properties of gamma-ray burst jets, and are working with the MIT WINTER Group to coordinate efficient electromagnetic followup searches for kilonovae. MIT is additionally involved in the development and maintenance of infrastructure GWCelery to enable the low-latency multi-messenger follow-up of gravitational-wave events.