We present a method for detection and reconstruction of the gravitational wave (GW) transients with the networks of advanced detectors. Originally designed to search for transients with the initial ...GW detectors, it uses significantly improved algorithms, which enhance both the low-latency searches with rapid localization of GW events for the electromagnetic follow-up and high confidence detection of a broad range of the transient GW sources. In this paper, we present the analytic framework of the method. Following a short description of the core analysis algorithms, we introduce a novel approach to the reconstruction of the GW polarization from a pattern of detector responses to a GW signal. This polarization pattern is a unique signature of an arbitrary GW signal that can be measured independently from the other source parameters. The polarization measurements enable rapid reconstruction of the GW waveforms, sky localization, and helps identification of the source origin.
By probing the population of binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected by LIGO-Virgo, we can infer properties about the underlying black hole formation channels. A mechanism known as pair-instability ...(PI) supernova is expected to prevent the formation of black holes from stellar collapse with mass greater than ∼ 40 – 65 M ⊙ and less than ∼ 120 M ⊙ . Any BBH merger detected by LIGO-Virgo with a component black hole in this so-called PI mass gap likely originated from an alternative formation channel. Here, we firmly establish GW190521 as an outlier to the stellar-mass BBH population if the PI mass gap begins at or below 65 M ⊙ . In addition, for a PI lower boundary of 40 – 50 M ⊙ , we find it unlikely that the remaining distribution of detected BBH events, excluding GW190521, is consistent with the stellar-mass BBH population.
The time-frequency transforms are important tools for identification of transient events in the output of the gravitational-wave detectors. Produced by the terrestrial and possibly by astrophysical ...sources, the transient events can be identified as patterns on the time-frequency plane with the excess power above stationary detector noise. In this paper we consider a particular case of the Wilson-Daubechies time-frequency transform for use in the gravitational-wave burst analysis. The presented Wilson-Daubechies basis shares some properties with the Gabor frames, but circumvents the Balian-Low theorem. It also shares similarity with the Meyer wavelet, which is actively used in the gravitational-wave burst analysis. The main advantages of the Wilson-Daubechies transform are the low computational cost, spectral leakage control, flexible structure of the frequency sub-bands, and the existence of the analytic time-delay filters, which are important for localization of the gravitational-wave sources in the sky. These properties of the Wilson-Daubechies transform may prove useful not only in the transient analysis, but also in other areas of the gravitational wave data analysis and detector characterization.
Most compact binary systems are expected to circularize before the frequency of emitted gravitational waves (GWs) enters the sensitivity band of the ground based interferometric detectors. However, ...several mechanisms have been proposed for the formation of binary systems, which retain eccentricity throughout their lifetimes. Since no matched-filtering algorithm has been developed to extract continuous GW signals from compact binaries on orbits with low to moderate values of eccentricity, and available algorithms to detect binaries on quasicircular orbits are suboptimal to recover these events, in this paper we propose a search method for detection of gravitational waves produced from the coalescences of eccentric binary black holes (eBBH). We study the search sensitivity and the false alarm rates on a segment of data from the second joint science run of LIGO and Virgo detectors, and discuss the implications of the eccentric binary search for the advanced GW detectors.
This contribution introduces a new type of Micropattern Gaseous Detector, the Fast Timing Micropattern (FTM) detector, utilizing fully Resistive WELL structures. The structure of the prototype will ...be described in detail and the results of the characterization study performed with an X-ray gun will be presented, together with the first results on time resolution based on data collected with muon/pion test beams.