672 research outputs found
Improving LIGO calibration accuracy by tracking and compensating for slow temporal variations
Calibration of the second-generation LIGO interferometric gravitational-wave
detectors employs a method that uses injected periodic modulations to track and
compensate for slow temporal variations in the differential length response of
the instruments. These detectors utilize feedback control loops to maintain
resonance conditions by suppressing differential arm length variations. We
describe how the sensing and actuation functions of these servo loops are
parameterized and how the slow variations in these parameters are quantified
using the injected modulations. We report the results of applying this method
to the LIGO detectors and show that it significantly reduces systematic errors
in their calibrated outputs.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures. This is an author-created, un-copyedited version
of an article published in Classical and Quantum Gravity. IOP Publishing Ltd
is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the
manuscript or any version derived from i
Reconstructing the calibrated strain signal in the Advanced LIGO detectors
Advanced LIGO's raw detector output needs to be calibrated to compute
dimensionless strain h(t). Calibrated strain data is produced in the time
domain using both a low-latency, online procedure and a high-latency, offline
procedure. The low-latency h(t) data stream is produced in two stages, the
first of which is performed on the same computers that operate the detector's
feedback control system. This stage, referred to as the front-end calibration,
uses infinite impulse response (IIR) filtering and performs all operations at a
16384 Hz digital sampling rate. Due to several limitations, this procedure
currently introduces certain systematic errors in the calibrated strain data,
motivating the second stage of the low-latency procedure, known as the
low-latency gstlal calibration pipeline. The gstlal calibration pipeline uses
finite impulse response (FIR) filtering to apply corrections to the output of
the front-end calibration. It applies time-dependent correction factors to the
sensing and actuation components of the calibrated strain to reduce systematic
errors. The gstlal calibration pipeline is also used in high latency to
recalibrate the data, which is necessary due mainly to online dropouts in the
calibrated data and identified improvements to the calibration models or
filters.Comment: 20 pages including appendices and bibliography. 11 Figures. 3 Table
Calibration Uncertainty for Advanced LIGO's First and Second Observing Runs
Calibration of the Advanced LIGO detectors is the quantification of the
detectors' response to gravitational waves. Gravitational waves incident on the
detectors cause phase shifts in the interferometer laser light which are read
out as intensity fluctuations at the detector output. Understanding this
detector response to gravitational waves is crucial to producing accurate and
precise gravitational wave strain data. Estimates of binary black hole and
neutron star parameters and tests of general relativity require well-calibrated
data, as miscalibrations will lead to biased results. We describe the method of
producing calibration uncertainty estimates for both LIGO detectors in the
first and second observing runs.Comment: 15 pages, 21 figures, LIGO DCC P160013
The Advanced LIGO Photon Calibrators
The two interferometers of the Laser Interferometry Gravitaional-wave
Observatory (LIGO) recently detected gravitational waves from the mergers of
binary black hole systems. Accurate calibration of the output of these
detectors was crucial for the observation of these events, and the extraction
of parameters of the sources. The principal tools used to calibrate the
responses of the second-generation (Advanced) LIGO detectors to gravitational
waves are systems based on radiation pressure and referred to as Photon
Calibrators. These systems, which were completely redesigned for Advanced LIGO,
include several significant upgrades that enable them to meet the calibration
requirements of second-generation gravitational wave detectors in the new era
of gravitational-wave astronomy. We report on the design, implementation, and
operation of these Advanced LIGO Photon Calibrators that are currently
providing fiducial displacements on the order of
m/ with accuracy and precision of better than 1 %.Comment: 14 pages, 19 figure
Characterization of the seismic environment at the Sanford Underground Laboratory, South Dakota
An array of seismometers is being developed at the Sanford Underground
Laboratory, the former Homestake mine, in South Dakota to study the properties
of underground seismic fields and Newtonian noise, and to investigate the
possible advantages of constructing a third-generation gravitational-wave
detector underground. Seismic data were analyzed to characterize seismic noise
and disturbances. External databases were used to identify sources of seismic
waves: ocean-wave data to identify sources of oceanic microseisms, and surface
wind-speed data to investigate correlations with seismic motion as a function
of depth. In addition, sources of events contributing to the spectrum at higher
frequencies are characterized by studying the variation of event rates over the
course of a day. Long-term observations of spectral variations provide further
insight into the nature of seismic sources. Seismic spectra at three different
depths are compared, establishing the 4100-ft level as a world-class low
seismic-noise environment.Comment: 29 pages, 16 figure
First LIGO search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic (super)strings
We report on a matched-filter search for gravitational wave bursts from
cosmic string cusps using LIGO data from the fourth science run (S4) which took
place in February and March 2005. No gravitational waves were detected in 14.9
days of data from times when all three LIGO detectors were operating. We
interpret the result in terms of a frequentist upper limit on the rate of
gravitational wave bursts and use the limits on the rate to constrain the
parameter space (string tension, reconnection probability, and loop sizes) of
cosmic string models.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Replaced with version submitted to PR
Implications For The Origin Of GRB 051103 From LIGO Observations
We present the results of a LIGO search for gravitational waves (GWs)
associated with GRB 051103, a short-duration hard-spectrum gamma-ray burst
(GRB) whose electromagnetically determined sky position is coincident with the
spiral galaxy M81, which is 3.6 Mpc from Earth. Possible progenitors for
short-hard GRBs include compact object mergers and soft gamma repeater (SGR)
giant flares. A merger progenitor would produce a characteristic GW signal that
should be detectable at the distance of M81, while GW emission from an SGR is
not expected to be detectable at that distance. We found no evidence of a GW
signal associated with GRB 051103. Assuming weakly beamed gamma-ray emission
with a jet semi-angle of 30 deg we exclude a binary neutron star merger in M81
as the progenitor with a confidence of 98%. Neutron star-black hole mergers are
excluded with > 99% confidence. If the event occurred in M81 our findings
support the the hypothesis that GRB 051103 was due to an SGR giant flare,
making it the most distant extragalactic magnetar observed to date.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. For a repository of data used in the publication,
go to: https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=15166 . Also see
the announcement for this paper on ligo.org at:
http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-GRB051103/index.ph
Search for Gravitational Wave Bursts from Six Magnetars
Soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) are thought to be magnetars: neutron stars powered by extreme magnetic fields. These rare objects are characterized by repeated and sometimes spectacular gamma-ray bursts. The burst mechanism might involve crustal fractures and excitation of non-radial modes which would emit gravitational waves (GWs). We present the results of a search for GW bursts from six galactic magnetars that is sensitive to neutron star f-modes, thought to be the most efficient GW emitting oscillatory modes in compact stars. One of them, SGR 0501+4516, is likely similar to 1 kpc from Earth, an order of magnitude closer than magnetars targeted in previous GW searches. A second, AXP 1E 1547.0-5408, gave a burst with an estimated isotropic energy >10(44) erg which is comparable to the giant flares. We find no evidence of GWs associated with a sample of 1279 electromagnetic triggers from six magnetars occurring between 2006 November and 2009 June, in GW data from the LIGO, Virgo, and GEO600 detectors. Our lowest model-dependent GW emission energy upper limits for band-and time-limited white noise bursts in the detector sensitive band, and for f-mode ringdowns (at 1090 Hz), are 3.0 x 10(44)d(1)(2) erg and 1.4 x 10(47)d(1)(2) erg, respectively, where d(1) = d(0501)/1 kpc and d(0501) is the distance to SGR 0501+4516. These limits on GW emission from f-modes are an order of magnitude lower than any previous, and approach the range of electromagnetic energies seen in SGR giant flares for the first time.United States National Science FoundationScience and Technology Facilities Council of the United KingdomMax-Planck-SocietyState of Niedersachsen/GermanyItalian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica NucleareFrench Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueAustralian Research CouncilCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research of IndiaIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of ItalySpanish Ministerio de Educacion y CienciaConselleria d'Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes BalearsFoundation for Fundamental Research on Matter supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific ResearchPolish Ministry of Science and Higher EducationFoundation for Polish ScienceRoyal SocietyScottish Funding CouncilScottish Universities Physics AllianceNational Aeronautics and Space Administration NNH07ZDA001-GLASTCarnegie TrustLeverhulme TrustDavid and Lucile Packard FoundationResearch CorporationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationRussian Space AgencyRFBR 09-02-00166aIPN JPL Y503559 (Odyssey), NASA NNG06GH00G, NASA NNX07AM42G, NASA NNX08AC89G (INTEGRAL), NASA NNG06GI896, NASA NNX07AJ65G, NASA NNX08AN23G (Swift), NASA NNX07AR71G (MESSENGER), NASA NNX06AI36G, NASA NNX08AB84G, NASA NNX08AZ85G (Suzaku), NASA NNX09AU03G (Fermi)Astronom
Multimessenger astronomy with gravitational waves and high-energy neutrinos
Revised version, to appear in Reviews of Modern Physics (Colloquium Series). Section II on Potential GW+HEN emitters thoroughly updated. Section IV expanded with recent experimental results from joint GW+HEN searches with ANTARES, IceCube, LIGO and VIRGO, and with an extended discussion of the reach and implications of future searches.Many of the astrophysical sources and violent phenomena observed in our Universe are potential emitters of gravitational waves (GW) and high-energy neutrinos (HEN). Both GWs and HENs may escape very dense media and travel unaffected over cosmological distances, carrying information from the innermost regions of the astrophysical engines. Such messengers could also reveal new, hidden sources that have not been observed by conventional photon-based astronomy. Coincident observation of GWs and HENs may thus play a critical role in multimessenger astronomy. This is particularly true at the present time owing to the advent of a new generation of dedicated detectors: IceCube, ANTARES, VIRGO and LIGO. Given the complexity of the instruments, a successful joint analysis of this data set will be possible only if the expertise and knowledge of the data is shared between the two communities. This review aims at providing an overview of both theoretical and experimental state-of-the-art and perspectives for such a GW+HEN multimessenger astronomy
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