22 research outputs found
Triangulation of gravitational wave sources with a network of detectors
There is significant benefit to be gained by pursuing multi-messenger
astronomy with gravitational wave and electromagnetic observations. In order to
undertake electromagnetic follow-ups of gravitational wave signals, it will be
necessary to accurately localize them in the sky. Since gravitational wave
detectors are not inherently pointing instruments, localization will occur
primarily through triangulation with a network of detectors. We investigate the
expected timing accuracy for observed signals and the consequences for
localization. In addition, we discuss the effect of systematic uncertainties in
the waveform and calibration of the instruments on the localization of sources.
We provide illustrative results of timing and localization accuracy as well as
systematic effects for coalescing binary waveforms.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure
First joint search for gravitational-wave bursts in LIGO and GEO600 data
We present the results of the first joint search for gravitational-wave
bursts by the LIGO and GEO600 detectors. We search for bursts with
characteristic central frequencies in the band 768 to 2048 Hz in the data
acquired between the 22nd of February and the 23rd of March, 2005 (fourth LSC
Science Run - S4). We discuss the inclusion of the GEO600 data in the
Waveburst-CorrPower pipeline that first searches for coincident excess power
events without taking into account differences in the antenna responses or
strain sensitivities of the various detectors. We compare the performance of
this pipeline to that of the coherent Waveburst pipeline based on the maximum
likelihood statistic. This likelihood statistic is derived from a coherent sum
of the detector data streams that takes into account the antenna patterns and
sensitivities of the different detectors in the network. We find that the
coherentWaveburst pipeline is sensitive to signals of amplitude 30 - 50%
smaller than the Waveburst-CorrPower pipeline. We perform a search for
gravitational-wave bursts using both pipelines and find no detection candidates
in the S4 data set when all four instruments were operating stably.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figure
Search for gravitational-wave bursts in LIGO data from the fourth science run
The fourth science run of the LIGO and GEO 600 gravitational-wave detectors,
carried out in early 2005, collected data with significantly lower noise than
previous science runs. We report on a search for short-duration
gravitational-wave bursts with arbitrary waveform in the 64-1600 Hz frequency
range appearing in all three LIGO interferometers. Signal consistency tests,
data quality cuts, and auxiliary-channel vetoes are applied to reduce the rate
of spurious triggers. No gravitational-wave signals are detected in 15.5 days
of live observation time; we set a frequentist upper limit of 0.15 per day (at
90% confidence level) on the rate of bursts with large enough amplitudes to be
detected reliably. The amplitude sensitivity of the search, characterized using
Monte Carlo simulations, is several times better than that of previous
searches. We also provide rough estimates of the distances at which
representative supernova and binary black hole merger signals could be detected
with 50% efficiency by this analysis.Comment: Corrected amplitude sensitivities (7% change on average); 30 pages,
submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravit
A Joint Search for Gravitational Wave Bursts with AURIGA and LIGO
The first simultaneous operation of the AURIGA detector and the LIGO
observatory was an opportunity to explore real data, joint analysis methods
between two very different types of gravitational wave detectors: resonant bars
and interferometers. This paper describes a coincident gravitational wave burst
search, where data from the LIGO interferometers are cross-correlated at the
time of AURIGA candidate events to identify coherent transients. The analysis
pipeline is tuned with two thresholds, on the signal-to-noise ratio of AURIGA
candidate events and on the significance of the cross-correlation test in LIGO.
The false alarm rate is estimated by introducing time shifts between data sets
and the network detection efficiency is measured with simulated signals with
power in the narrower AURIGA band. In the absence of a detection, we discuss
how to set an upper limit on the rate of gravitational waves and to interpret
it according to different source models. Due to the short amount of analyzed
data and to the high rate of non-Gaussian transients in the detectors noise at
the time, the relevance of this study is methodological: this was the first
joint search for gravitational wave bursts among detectors with such different
spectral sensitivity and the first opportunity for the resonant and
interferometric communities to unify languages and techniques in the pursuit of
their common goal.Comment: 18 pages, IOP, 12 EPS figure
Sensitivity to Gravitational Waves from Compact Binary Coalescences Achieved during LIGO's Fifth and Virgo's First Science Run
We summarize the sensitivity achieved by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational
wave detectors for compact binary coalescence (CBC) searches during LIGO's
fifth science run and Virgo's first science run. We present noise spectral
density curves for each of the four detectors that operated during these
science runs which are representative of the typical performance achieved by
the detectors for CBC searches. These spectra are intended for release to the
public as a summary of detector performance for CBC searches during these
science runs.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Stacked Search for Gravitational Waves from the 2006 SGR 1900+14 Storm
We present the results of a LIGO search for short-duration gravitational
waves (GWs) associated with the 2006 March 29 SGR 1900+14 storm. A new search
method is used, "stacking'' the GW data around the times of individual
soft-gamma bursts in the storm to enhance sensitivity for models in which
multiple bursts are accompanied by GW emission. We assume that variation in the
time difference between burst electromagnetic emission and potential burst GW
emission is small relative to the GW signal duration, and we time-align GW
excess power time-frequency tilings containing individual burst triggers to
their corresponding electromagnetic emissions. We use two GW emission models in
our search: a fluence-weighted model and a flat (unweighted) model for the most
electromagnetically energetic bursts. We find no evidence of GWs associated
with either model. Model-dependent GW strain, isotropic GW emission energy
E_GW, and \gamma = E_GW / E_EM upper limits are estimated using a variety of
assumed waveforms. The stacking method allows us to set the most stringent
model-dependent limits on transient GW strain published to date. We find E_GW
upper limit estimates (at a nominal distance of 10 kpc) of between 2x10^45 erg
and 6x10^50 erg depending on waveform type. These limits are an order of
magnitude lower than upper limits published previously for this storm and
overlap with the range of electromagnetic energies emitted in SGR giant flares.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Search for Gravitational Waves from Low Mass Compact Binary Coalescence in LIGO's Sixth Science Run and Virgo's Science Runs 2 and 3
We report on a search for gravitational waves from coalescing compact
binaries using LIGO and Virgo observations between July 7, 2009 and October 20,
2010. We searched for signals from binaries with total mass between 2 and 25
solar masses; this includes binary neutron stars, binary black holes, and
binaries consisting of a black hole and neutron star. The detectors were
sensitive to systems up to 40 Mpc distant for binary neutron stars, and further
for higher mass systems. No gravitational-wave signals were detected. We report
upper limits on the rate of compact binary coalescence as a function of total
mass, including the results from previous LIGO and Virgo observations. The
cumulative 90%-confidence rate upper limits of the binary coalescence of binary
neutron star, neutron star- black hole and binary black hole systems are 1.3 x
10^{-4}, 3.1 x 10^{-5} and 6.4 x 10^{-6} Mpc^{-3}yr^{-1}, respectively. These
upper limits are up to a factor 1.4 lower than previously derived limits. We
also report on results from a blind injection challenge.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. For a repository of data used in the
publication, go to:
. Also see the
announcement for this paper on ligo.org at:
<http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6CBCLowMass/index.php
Buffered high charge spectrally-peaked proton beams in the relativistic-transparency regime
Spectrally-peaked proton beams of high charge (Ep » 8 MeV, DE » 4 MeV, N » 50 nC ) have been observed from the interaction of an intense laser (>1019 W cm−2) with ultrathin CH foils, as measured by spectrally-resolved full beam profiles. These beams are reproducibly generated for foil thicknesses 5–100 nm, and exhibit narrowing divergence with decreasing target thickness down to »8 for 5 nm. Simulations demonstrate that the narrow energy spread feature is a result of buffered acceleration of protons. The radiation pressure at the front of the target results in asymmetric sheath fields which permeate throughout the target, causing preferential forward acceleration. Due to their higher charge- to-mass ratio, the protons outrun a carbon plasma driven in the relativistic transparency regime