23 research outputs found
Stabilized high-power laser system for the gravitational wave detector advanced LIGO
An ultra-stable, high-power cw Nd:YAG laser system, developed for the ground-based gravitational wave detector Advanced LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory), was comprehensively characterized. Laser power, frequency, beam pointing and beam quality were simultaneously stabilized using different active and passive schemes. The output beam, the performance of the stabilization, and the cross-coupling between different stabilization feedback control loops were characterized and found to fulfill most design requirements. The employed stabilization schemes and the achieved performance are of relevance to many high-precision optical experiments
Swift follow-up observations of candidate gravitational-wave transient events
We present the first multi-wavelength follow-up observations of two candidate
gravitational-wave (GW) transient events recorded by LIGO and Virgo in their
2009-2010 science run. The events were selected with low latency by the network
of GW detectors and their candidate sky locations were observed by the Swift
observatory. Image transient detection was used to analyze the collected
electromagnetic data, which were found to be consistent with background.
Off-line analysis of the GW data alone has also established that the selected
GW events show no evidence of an astrophysical origin; one of them is
consistent with background and the other one was a test, part of a "blind
injection challenge". With this work we demonstrate the feasibility of rapid
follow-ups of GW transients and establish the sensitivity improvement joint
electromagnetic and GW observations could bring. This is a first step toward an
electromagnetic follow-up program in the regime of routine detections with the
advanced GW instruments expected within this decade. In that regime
multi-wavelength observations will play a significant role in completing the
astrophysical identification of GW sources. We present the methods and results
from this first combined analysis and discuss its implications in terms of
sensitivity for the present and future instruments.Comment: Submitted for publication 2012 May 25, accepted 2012 October 25,
published 2012 November 21, in ApJS, 203, 28 (
http://stacks.iop.org/0067-0049/203/28 ); 14 pages, 3 figures, 6 tables;
LIGO-P1100038; Science summary at
http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6LVSwift/index.php ; Public access
area to figures, tables at
https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p110003
A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007
We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts
associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal
new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy,
particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the
underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the
period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first
science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed
for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with
the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place
limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave
emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of
merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at
http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access
area to figures, tables at
https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000
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
Implementation and testing of the first prompt search for gravitational wave transients with electromagnetic counterparts
Aims. A transient astrophysical event observed in both gravitational wave
(GW) and electromagnetic (EM) channels would yield rich scientific rewards. A
first program initiating EM follow-ups to possible transient GW events has been
developed and exercised by the LIGO and Virgo community in association with
several partners. In this paper, we describe and evaluate the methods used to
promptly identify and localize GW event candidates and to request images of
targeted sky locations.
Methods. During two observing periods (Dec 17 2009 to Jan 8 2010 and Sep 2 to
Oct 20 2010), a low-latency analysis pipeline was used to identify GW event
candidates and to reconstruct maps of possible sky locations. A catalog of
nearby galaxies and Milky Way globular clusters was used to select the most
promising sky positions to be imaged, and this directional information was
delivered to EM observatories with time lags of about thirty minutes. A Monte
Carlo simulation has been used to evaluate the low-latency GW pipeline's
ability to reconstruct source positions correctly.
Results. For signals near the detection threshold, our low-latency algorithms
often localized simulated GW burst signals to tens of square degrees, while
neutron star/neutron star inspirals and neutron star/black hole inspirals were
localized to a few hundred square degrees. Localization precision improves for
moderately stronger signals. The correct sky location of signals well above
threshold and originating from nearby galaxies may be observed with ~50% or
better probability with a few pointings of wide-field telescopes.Comment: 17 pages. This version (v2) includes two tables and 1 section not
included in v1. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic
First Low-Latency LIGO+Virgo Search for Binary Inspirals and their Electromagnetic Counterparts
Aims. The detection and measurement of gravitational-waves from coalescing
neutron-star binary systems is an important science goal for ground-based
gravitational-wave detectors. In addition to emitting gravitational-waves at
frequencies that span the most sensitive bands of the LIGO and Virgo detectors,
these sources are also amongst the most likely to produce an electromagnetic
counterpart to the gravitational-wave emission. A joint detection of the
gravitational-wave and electromagnetic signals would provide a powerful new
probe for astronomy.
Methods. During the period between September 19 and October 20, 2010, the
first low-latency search for gravitational-waves from binary inspirals in LIGO
and Virgo data was conducted. The resulting triggers were sent to
electromagnetic observatories for followup. We describe the generation and
processing of the low-latency gravitational-wave triggers. The results of the
electromagnetic image analysis will be described elsewhere.
Results. Over the course of the science run, three gravitational-wave
triggers passed all of the low-latency selection cuts. Of these, one was
followed up by several of our observational partners. Analysis of the
gravitational-wave data leads to an estimated false alarm rate of once every
6.4 days, falling far short of the requirement for a detection based solely on
gravitational-wave data.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures. For a repository of data used in the
publication, go to:
http://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=P1100065 Also see the
announcement for this paper on ligo.org at:
http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6CBCLowLatency
Search for gravitational waves from compact binary coalescence in LIGO and Virgo data from S5 and VSR1
We report the results of the first search for gravitational waves from compact binary coalescence using data from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory and Virgo detectors. Five months of data were collected during the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatoryâs S5 and Virgoâs VSR1 science runs. The search focused on signals from binary mergers with a total mass between 2 and 35Mâ. No gravitational waves are identified. The cumulative 90%-confidence upper limits on the rate of compact binary coalescence are calculated for nonspinning binary neutron stars, black hole-neutron star systems, and binary black holes to be 8.7Ă10â3ââyrâ1âL10â1, 2.2Ă10â3ââyrâ1âL10â1, and 4.4Ă10â4ââyrâ1âL10â1, respectively, where L10 is 1010 times the blue solar luminosity. These upper limits are compared with astrophysical expectations. © 2010 The American Physical Societ
Search for gravitational waves from intermediate mass binary black holes
We present the results of a weakly modeled burst search for gravitational waves from mergers of nonspinning intermediate mass black holes in the total mass range 100â450ââMâ and with the component mass ratios between 1â¶1 and 4â¶1. The search was conducted on data collected by the LIGO and Virgo detectors between November of 2005 and October of 2007. No plausible signals were observed by the search which constrains the astrophysical rates of the intermediate mass black holes mergers as a function of the component masses. In the most efficiently detected bin centered on 88+88ââMâ, for nonspinning sources, the rate density upper limit is 0.13 per Mpc3 per Myr at the 90% confidence level. © 2012 The American Physical Societ
All-sky search for periodic gravitational waves in the full S5 LIGO data
We report on an all-sky search for periodic gravitational waves in the frequency band 50â800 Hz and with the frequency time derivative in the range of 0 through â6Ă10â9ââHz/s. Such a signal could be produced by a nearby spinning and slightly nonaxisymmetric isolated neutron star in our Galaxy. After recent improvements in the search program that yielded a 10Ă increase in computational efficiency, we have searched in two years of data collected during LIGOâs fifth science run and have obtained the most sensitive all-sky upper limits on gravitational-wave strain to date. Near 150 Hz our upper limit on worst-case linearly polarized strain amplitude h0 is 1Ă10â24, while at the high end of our frequency range we achieve a worst-case upper limit of 3.8Ă10â24 for all polarizations and sky locations. These results constitute a factor of 2 improvement upon previously published data. A new detection pipeline utilizing a loosely coherent algorithm was able to follow up weaker outliers, increasing the volume of space where signals can be detected by a factor of 10, but has not revealed any gravitational-wave signals. The pipeline has been tested for robustness with respect to deviations from the model of an isolated neutron star, such as caused by a low-mass or long-period binary companion. © 2012 The American Physical Societ