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 16 384 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.
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.
We describe a search underway for periodic gravitational waves from the central compact object in the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. The object is the youngest likely neutron star in the Galaxy. Its ...position is well known, but the object does not pulse in any electromagnetic radiation band and thus presents a challenge in searching the parameter space of frequency and frequency derivatives. We estimate that a fully coherent search can, with a reasonable amount of time on a computing cluster, achieve a sensitivity at which it is theoretically possible (though not likely) to observe a signal even with the initial LIGO noise spectrum. Cassiopeia A is only the second object after the Crab pulsar for which this is true. The search method described here can also obtain interesting results for similar objects with current LIGO sensitivity.
Gravitational wave interferometers achieve their profound sensitivity by combining a Michelson interferometer with optical cavities, suspended masses, and now, squeezed quantum states of light. These ...states modify the measurement process of the LIGO, VIRGO and GEO600 interferometers to reduce the quantum noise that masks astrophysical signals; thus, improvements to squeezing are essential to further expand our gravitational view of the Universe. Further reducing quantum noise will require both lowering decoherence from losses as well more sophisticated manipulations to counter the quantum back-action from radiation pressure. Both tasks require fully understanding the physical interactions between squeezed light and the many components of km-scale interferometers. To this end, data from both LIGO observatories in observing run three are expressed using frequency-dependent metrics to analyze each detector's quantum response to squeezed states. The response metrics are derived and used to concisely describe physical mechanisms behind squeezing's simultaneous interaction with transverse-mode selective optical cavities and the quantum radiation pressure noise of suspended mirrors. These metrics and related analysis are broadly applicable for cavity-enhanced optomechanics experiments that incorporate external squeezing, and-for the first time-give physical descriptions of every feature so far observed in the quantum noise of the LIGO detectors.
Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations are presented for the mixture of superfluid neutrons, superconducting protons and normal electrons believed to exist in the outer cores of neutron stars. The ...dissipative effects of electron viscosity and mutual friction resulting from electron-vortex scattering are also included. It is shown that Alfvén waves are replaced by cyclotron-vortex waves that have not been previously derived from MHD theory. The cyclotron-vortex waves are analogous to Alfvén waves with the tension arising from the magnetic energy density replaced by the vortex energy density. The equations are then put into a simplified form useful for studying the effect of the interior magnetic field on the dynamics. Of particular interest is the crust–core coupling time, which can be inferred from pulsar glitch observations. The hypothesis that cyclotron-vortex waves play a significant role in the core spin-up during a glitch is used to place limits on the interior magnetic field. The results are compared with those of other studies.
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