No Arabic abstract
We address the problem of noise regression in the output of gravitational-wave (GW) interferometers, using data from the physical environmental monitors (PEM). The objective of the regression analysis is to predict environmental noise in the gravitational-wave channel from the PEM measurements. One of the most promising regression method is based on the construction of Wiener-Kolmogorov filters. Using this method, the seismic noise cancellation from the LIGO GW channel has already been performed. In the presented approach the Wiener-Kolmogorov method has been extended, incorporating banks of Wiener filters in the time-frequency domain, multi-channel analysis and regulation schemes, which greatly enhance the versatility of the regression analysis. Also we presents the first results on regression of the bi-coherent noise in the LIGO data.
The analysis of physical measurements often copes with highly correlated noises and interruptions caused by outliers, saturation events or transmission losses. We assess the impact of missing data on the performance of linear regression analysis involving the fit of modeled or measured time series. We show that data gaps can significantly alter the precision of the regression parameter estimation in the presence of colored noise, due to the frequency leakage of the noise power. We present a regression method which cancels this effect and estimates the parameters of interest with a precision comparable to the complete data case, even if the noise power spectral density (PSD) is not known a priori. The method is based on an autoregressive (AR) fit of the noise, which allows us to build an approximate generalized least squares estimator approaching the minimal variance bound. The method, which can be applied to any similar data processing, is tested on simulated measurements of the MICROSCOPE space mission, whose goal is to test the Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP) with a precision of $10^{-15}$. In this particular context the signal of interest is the WEP violation signal expected to be found around a well defined frequency. We test our method with different gap patterns and noise of known PSD and find that the results agree with the mission requirements, decreasing the uncertainty by a factor 60 with respect to ordinary least squares methods. We show that it also provides a test of significance to assess the uncertainty of the measurement.
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration have cataloged eleven confidently detected gravitational-wave events during the first two observing runs of the advanced detector era. All eleven events were consistent with being from well-modeled mergers between compact stellar-mass objects: black holes or neutron stars. The data around the time of each of these events have been made publicly available through the gravitational-wave open science center. The entirety of the gravitational-wave strain data from the first and second observing runs have also now been made publicly available. There is considerable interest among the broad scientific community in understanding the data and methods used in the analyses. In this paper, we provide an overview of the detector noise properties and the data analysis techniques used to detect gravitational-wave signals and infer the source properties. We describe some of the checks that are performed to validate the analyses and results from the observations of gravitational-wave events. We also address concerns that have been raised about various properties of LIGO-Virgo detector noise and the correctness of our analyses as applied to the resulting data.
The sensitivity of the Advanced LIGO detectors to gravitational waves can be affected by environmental disturbances external to the detectors themselves. Since the transition from the former initial LIGO phase, many improvements have been made to the equipment and techniques used to investigate these environmental effects. These methods have aided in tracking down and mitigating noise sources throughout the first three observing runs of the advanced detector era, keeping the ambient contribution of environmental noise below the background noise levels of the detectors. In this paper we describe the methods used and how they have led to the mitigation of noise sources, the role that environmental monitoring has played in the validation of gravitational wave events, and plans for future observing runs.
We report on an all-sky search for periodic gravitational waves in the frequency band 20-475 Hz and with a frequency time derivative in the range of [-1.0, +0.1]e-8 Hz/s. Such a signal could be produced by a nearby spinning and slightly non-axisymmetric isolated neutron star in our galaxy. This search uses the data from Advanced LIGOs first observational run, O1. No periodic gravitational wave signals were observed, and upper limits were placed on their strengths. The lowest upper limits on worst-case (linearly polarized) strain amplitude h0 are 4e-25 near 170 Hz. For a circularly polarized source (most favorable orientation), the smallest upper limits obtained are 1.5e-25. These upper limits refer to all sky locations and the entire range of frequency derivative values. For a population-averaged ensemble of sky locations and stellar orientations, the lowest upper limits obtained for the strain amplitude are 2.5e-25.
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) glitch group is part of the LIGO detector characterization effort. It consists of data analysts and detector experts who, during and after science runs, collaborate for a better understanding of noise transients in the detectors. Goals of the glitch group during the fifth LIGO science run (S5) included (1) offline assessment of the detector data quality, with focus on noise transients, (2) veto recommendations for astrophysical analysis and (3) feedback to the commissioning team on anomalies seen in gravitational wave and auxiliary data channels. Other activities included the study of auto-correlation of triggers from burst searches, stationarity of the detector noise and veto studies. The group identified causes for several noise transients that triggered false alarms in the gravitational wave searches; the times of such transients were identified and vetoed from the data generating the LSC astrophysical results.