Author ORCID Identifier:

https://orcid.org/0009-0001-0178-5183

Date of Graduation

7-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Space & Planetary Sciences (PhD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Space & Planetary Sciences

Advisor/Mentor

Kennefick, Daniel

Committee Member

Lehmer, Bret

Second Committee Member

Tullis, Jason

Third Committee Member

Arnold, Mark

Keywords

chirp mass; EMRI; gravitational waves; LISA

Abstract

This dissertation will go over three projects that have to do with gravitational wave mechanics and history. The first project is about investigating computationally cheaper approximation methods for modeling EMRI (extreme mass ratio inspiral) orbits using interpolation. Two codes are interpolated together for full coverage of the parameter space. This interpolation has yet to be tested for accuracy but the preliminary outlook is positive. This may well be a useful tool for studying EMRIs. The second project is investigating the origins of the term “chirp mass”, where chirp mass is a combination of the two masses in a binary that controls how the emitted gravitational wave chirps. The authors of the paper that popularized the term deny coining it. I was able to find two papers that use the term before the paper that popularized it, but as the authors of both papers are deceased I am unable to determine if either of them are responsible for coining the term. However, it is very likely the term circulated orally before it became common in print. The third project is evaluating methods of ultra compact binary (UCB) catalog generation using GLASS (The Global LISA Analysis Software Suite) samples from the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) data analysis pipeline. The model to be used and the match criteria were both evaluated and it was determined that the most sampled model and a match criteria of 0.9 gave the most accurate catalog. The GLASS catalogs were also compared to Erebor catalogs and GLASS was found to have fewer missed detections and fewer false detections. All of these projects have to do with evolution of gravitational wave producing binaries and their detection.

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