A state observer for the Virgo inverted pendulum

International audienceWe report an application of Kalman filtering to the inverted pendulum (IP) of the Virgo gravitational wave interferometer. Using subspace method system identification techniques, we calculated a linear mechanical model of Virgo IP from experimental transfer functions. We then developed a Kalman filter, based on the obtained state space representation, that estimates from open loop time domain data, the state variables of the system. This allows the observation (and eventually control) of every resonance mode of the IP mechanical structure independently

FIRST SEARCHES FOR OPTICAL COUNTERPARTS TO GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE CANDIDATE EVENTS

During the LIGO and Virgo joint science runs in 2009-2010, gravitational wave (GW) data from three interferometer detectors were analyzed within minutes to select GW candidate events and infer their apparent sky positions. Target coordinates were transmitted to several telescopes for follow-up observations aimed at the detection of an associated optical transient. Images were obtained for eight such GW candidates. We present the methods used to analyze the image data as well as the transient search results. No optical transient was identified with a convincing association with any of these candidates, and none of the GW triggers showed strong evidence for being astrophysical in nature. We compare the sensitivities of these observations to several model light curves from possible sources of interest, and discuss prospects for future joint GW-optical observations of this type