The advanced Virgo (AdV) sensitivity might be influenced by the effects of environmental noise, in particular magnetic noise (MN). In order to show the impact on the gravitational-wave strain signal ...h(t) and on the AdV sensitivity, we must understand the coupling between the environmental magnetic activity and the strain. The relationship between the environmental noise-measured by a physical environment monitor (PEM)-and h(t) is investigated using injection studies, where an intentional stimulus is introduced and the responses of both PEM sensors and the instrument are analyzed. We also present the most outstanding measurements and results obtained from both the characterization and the mitigation studies of the environmental MN. Results show that MN does not affect AdV sensitivity up to 100 Mpc in BNS range.
Abstract
So far, the sensitivity of gravitational-wave (GW) detectors, in the low-frequency and mid-frequency regions of its bandwidth, has been limited by technical noises. The re-injection of ...sensing and control noises can be one of the main limitations. After the end of the third observing run O3, in preparation for the fourth observing run O4, an upgrade phase started among all the km-scale GW detectors, namely LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA, with the aim of improving their sensitivity. In particular, for the case of Advanced Virgo, one of the most significant upgrades is the installation of a signal recycling (SR) mirror, introducing the SR cavity. The main target of this SR mirror is to shape the sensitivity curve of the detector. The installation of a SR mirror adds an extra optical cavity and, thus, extra DoFs (longitudinal and angular), that should be controlled to keep its working point, ultimately increasing the complexity of the whole control strategy. In order to have an accurate description of the interferometer, we have implemented a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) model in the frequency domain. The target of this paper, after showing the Advanced Virgo configuration for the next observing run, is to describe the control scheme used for the main longitudinal degrees of freedom using a MIMO approach. In particular, we detail a useful matrix representation for the modeled system. Finally, we use the implemented model to project the sensing and control noises on the sensitivity curve. Following the obtained results, we propose noise subtraction filters to achieve the low control noise target in the low-frequency region of the sensitivity curve. Additionally, using this model, we have implemented the core of a noise budget tool, which will allow to estimate the contribution of all the known sources of noise on the measured sensitivity.
A known criticality of optical cavities such as Fabry–Pérot resonant cavities is the presence of non-linear effects in the build-up of the laser fields inside the cavity itself, which can spoil the ...characteristics of the error signal used to control the cavity length, usually obtained with the Pound–Drever–Hall phase modulation–demodulation technique. The non-linear effects are primarily caused by high cavity speeds prior to acquiring longitudinal control of the cavity (or “lock”), and they are due to the frequency fluctuations of the laser and to the residual seismic motion affecting the system; such effects are amplified with the increasing of the Finesse of the cavity. In order to overcome this limitation, the cavity speed is effectively slowed down before engaging the lock using a non-linear technique, known as “Guided Lock”; here an optimized version of the algorithm will be presented, which relies on a better estimation of the cavity speed based only on optical signals. The application of this technique to the high-Finesse Fabry–Pérot arm cavities of the Advanced Virgo gravitational wave detector will be described. The novel algorithm was applied for the lock acquisition of the Advanced Virgo detector during the O2 Observing Run, in August 2017; the improved algorithm, by dynamically measuring the cavity speed, allowed to implement a predictive capability in slowing down the mirrors, thus improving the efficiency of the lock acquisition procedure for the arm cavities.
The Virgo interferometer is one of the big observatories aimed at detecting gravitational waves. This paper will describe the Virgo + upgrades and the commissioning work performed between the first ...Virgo science run (VSR1) and the second Virgo science run (VSR2). Some first results of VSR2 will be discussed, which was recently started with a good duty cycle and an inspiral range for the detection of binary neutron--star inspirals of 10 Mpc. To conclude, an outlook will be given on some future upgrades of the detector.
Background
Although younger patients are supposed to be less susceptible to bleeding complications of mechanical aortic valve replacement (mAVR) than older patients, there is a relative paucity of ...data on this subject. Therefore, it remains uncertain whether younger patients are really at a lower risk of these complications than older patients.
Methods
Incidence rates of bleeding events during 15 years of follow-up after mAVR were compared between 163 patients under 60 (group I), 122 patients between 60 and 65 (group II), and 145 patients over 65 (group III) years of age at operation. The target international normalised ratio (INR) was 3.0–4.0.
Results
During 15 years of follow-up, the annual incidence rate of major bleeding events (excluding haemorrhagic stroke) was lower in the youngest as compared with the oldest group (3.0 versus 4.7 %, respectively;
p
= 0.030). However, the annual incidence rate of haemorrhagic stroke was as high in the youngest as in the two older groups (0.6 versus 0.7 % and 0.7 %, respectively;
p
= 0.928).
Conclusions
With a target INR of 3.0–4.0, patients under 60 years of age are at equally high risk of haemorrhagic stroke after mAVR as older patients. This finding confirms the relevance of a lower target INR as used in international guidelines.
The European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) and its American counterpart, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) score, are currently the most used risk scores to predict ...operative mortality of adult cardiac surgery
Current interferometric gravitational-wave detectors are limited by quantum noise over a wide range of their measurement bandwidth. One method to overcome the quantum limit is the injection of ...squeezed vacuum states of light into the interferometer's dark port. Here, we report on the successful application of this quantum technology to improve the shot noise limited sensitivity of the Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave detector. A sensitivity enhancement of up to 3.2±0.1 dB beyond the shot noise limit is achieved. This nonclassical improvement corresponds to a 5%-8% increase of the binary neutron star horizon. The squeezing injection was fully automated and over the first 5 months of the third joint LIGO-Virgo observation run O3 squeezing was applied for more than 99% of the science time. During this period several gravitational-wave candidates have been recorded.