567 research outputs found
Observing Gravitational Waves with a Single Detector
A major challenge of any search for gravitational waves is to distinguish
true astrophysical signals from those of terrestrial origin. Gravitational-wave
experiments therefore make use of multiple detectors, considering only those
signals which appear in coincidence in two or more instruments. It is unclear,
however, how to interpret loud gravitational-wave candidates observed when only
one detector is operational. In this paper, we demonstrate that the observed
rate of binary black hole mergers can be leveraged in order to make confident
detections of gravitational-wave signals with one detector alone. We quantify
detection confidences in terms of the probability that a signal
candidate is of astrophysical origin. We find that, at current levels of
instrumental sensitivity, loud signal candidates observed with a single
Advanced LIGO detector can be assigned . In the future,
Advanced LIGO may be able to observe single-detector events with confidences
exceeding .Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; published in CQG; minor updates to match
published versio
Improving the Sensitivity of Advanced LIGO Using Noise Subtraction
This paper presents an adaptable, parallelizable method for subtracting
linearly coupled noise from Advanced LIGO data. We explain the features
developed to ensure that the process is robust enough to handle the variability
present in Advanced LIGO data. In this work, we target subtraction of noise due
to beam jitter, detector calibration lines, and mains power lines. We
demonstrate noise subtraction over the entirety of the second observing run,
resulting in increases in sensitivity comparable to those reported in previous
targeted efforts. Over the course of the second observing run, we see a 30%
increase in Advanced LIGO sensitivity to gravitational waves from a broad range
of compact binary systems. We expect the use of this method to result in a
higher rate of detected gravitational-wave signals in Advanced LIGO data.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure
Identifying correlations between LIGO's astronomical range and auxiliary sensors using lasso regression
The range to which the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory
(LIGO) can observe astrophysical systems varies over time, limited by noise in
the instruments and their environments. Identifying and removing the sources of
noise that limit LIGO's range enables higher signal-to-noise observations and
increases the number of observations. The LIGO observatories are continuously
monitored by hundreds of thousands of auxiliary channels that may contain
information about these noise sources. This paper describes an algorithm that
uses linear regression, namely lasso (least absolute shrinkage and selection
operator) regression, to analyze all of these channels and identify a small
subset of them that can be used to reconstruct variations in LIGO's
astrophysical range. Exemplary results of the application of this method to
three different periods of LIGO Livingston data are presented, along with
computational performance and current limitations
Identifying correlations between LIGO’s astronomical range and auxiliary sensors using lasso regression
The range to which the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) can observe astrophysical systems varies over time, limited by noise in the instruments and their environments. Identifying and removing the sources of noise that limit LIGO's range enables higher signal-to-noise observations and increases the number of observations. The LIGO observatories are continuously monitored by hundreds of thousands of auxiliary channels that may contain information about these noise sources. This paper describes an algorithm that uses linear regression, namely lasso (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) regression, to analyze all of these channels and identify a small subset of them that can be used to reconstruct variations in LIGO's astrophysical range. Exemplary results of the application of this method to three different periods of LIGO Livingston data are presented, along with computational performance and current limitations
Gravitational Waves From Known Pulsars: Results From The Initial Detector Era
We present the results of searches for gravitational waves from a large selection of pulsars using data from the most recent science runs (S6, VSR2 and VSR4) of the initial generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors LIGO (Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory) and Virgo. We do not see evidence for gravitational wave emission from any of the targeted sources but produce upper limits on the emission amplitude. We highlight the results from seven young pulsars with large spin-down luminosities. We reach within a factor of five of the canonical spin-down limit for all seven of these, whilst for the Crab and Vela pulsars we further surpass their spin-down limits. We present new or updated limits for 172 other pulsars (including both young and millisecond pulsars). Now that the detectors are undergoing major upgrades, and, for completeness, we bring together all of the most up-to-date results from all pulsars searched for during the operations of the first-generation LIGO, Virgo and GEO600 detectors. This gives a total of 195 pulsars including the most recent results described in this paper.United States National Science FoundationScience and Technology Facilities Council of the United KingdomMax-Planck-SocietyState of Niedersachsen/GermanyAustralian Research CouncilInternational Science Linkages program of the Commonwealth of AustraliaCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research of IndiaIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of ItalySpanish Ministerio de Economia y CompetitividadConselleria d'Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes BalearsNetherlands Organisation for Scientific ResearchPolish Ministry of Science and Higher EducationFOCUS Programme of Foundation for Polish ScienceRoyal SocietyScottish Funding CouncilScottish Universities Physics AllianceNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationOTKA of HungaryLyon Institute of Origins (LIO)National Research Foundation of KoreaIndustry CanadaProvince of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and InnovationNational Science and Engineering Research Council CanadaCarnegie TrustLeverhulme TrustDavid and Lucile Packard FoundationResearch CorporationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationAstronom
First narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves from known pulsars in advanced detector data
Spinning neutron stars asymmetric with respect to their rotation axis are potential sources of
continuous gravitational waves for ground-based interferometric detectors. In the case of known pulsars a
fully coherent search, based on matched filtering, which uses the position and rotational parameters
obtained from electromagnetic observations, can be carried out. Matched filtering maximizes the signalto-
noise (SNR) ratio, but a large sensitivity loss is expected in case of even a very small mismatch
between the assumed and the true signal parameters. For this reason, narrow-band analysis methods have
been developed, allowing a fully coherent search for gravitational waves from known pulsars over a
fraction of a hertz and several spin-down values. In this paper we describe a narrow-band search of
11 pulsars using data from Advanced LIGO’s first observing run. Although we have found several initial
outliers, further studies show no significant evidence for the presence of a gravitational wave signal.
Finally, we have placed upper limits on the signal strain amplitude lower than the spin-down limit for 5 of
the 11 targets over the bands searched; in the case of J1813-1749 the spin-down limit has been beaten for
the first time. For an additional 3 targets, the median upper limit across the search bands is below the
spin-down limit. This is the most sensitive narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves carried
out so far
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