Gravity seminar — Gravitational wave memory as a tool for observational science: Michael Ebersold, Annecy, LAPP

Gravitational wave memory is a fascinating phenomenon that adds a low-frequency component to gravitational waves. Although the effect is subtle, it can yield complementary information about a GW signal. The GW memory is predominantly found in the 20-mode, thus it has the potential to improve distance measurements of compact binary events by resolving the distance-inclination degeneracy inherent in gravitational wave observations.
Furthermore, since the memory is sensitive to matter effects, we show how it can help distinguishing neutron star – black hole binaries and neutron star binaries from binary black holes apart from the masses.
Additionally, we show how the memory allows to search for potential subsolar mass binary black holes.