No Arabic abstract
We investigate the use of particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm for detection of gravitational-wave signals from compact binary coalescences. We show that the PSO is fast and effective in searching for gravitational wave signals. The PSO-based aligned-spin coincident multi-detector search recovers appreciably more gravitational-wave signals, for a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 10, the PSO based aligned-spin search recovers approximately 26 $%$ more events as compared to the template bank searches. The PSO-based aligned-spin coincident search uses 48k matched-filtering operations, and provides a better parameter estimation accuracy at the detection stage, as compared to the PyCBC template-bank search in LIGOs second observation run (O2) with 400k template points. We demonstrate an effective PSO-based precessing coincident search with 320k match-filtering operations per detector. We present results of an all-sky aligned-spin coherent search with 576k match-filtering operations per detector, for some examples of two-, three-, and four-detector networks constituting of the LIGO detectors in Hanford and Livingston, Virgo and KAGRA. Techniques for background estimation that are applicable to real data for PSO-based coincident and coherent searches are also presented.
While a fully-coherent all-sky search is known to be optimal for detecting signals from compact binary coalescences (CBCs), its high computational cost has limited current searches to less sensitive coincidence-based schemes. For a network of first generation GW detectors, it has been demonstrated that Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) can reduce the computational cost of this search, in terms of the number of likelihood evaluations, by a factor of $approx 10$ compared to a grid-based optimizer. Here, we extend the PSO-based search to a network of second generation detectors and present further substantial improvements in its performance by adopting the local-best variant of PSO and an effective strategy for tuning its configuration parameters. It is shown that a PSO-based search is viable over the entire binary mass range relevant to second generation detectors at realistic signal strengths.
While a fully-coherent all-sky search is known to be optimal for detecting gravitational wave signals from compact binary coalescences, its high computational cost has limited current searches to less sensitive coincidence-based schemes. Following up on previous work that has demonstrated the effectiveness of Particle Swarm Optimization in reducing the computational cost of this search, we present an implementation that achieves near real-time computational speed. This is achieved by combining the search efficiency of PSO with a significantly revised and optimized numerical implementation of the underlying mathematical formalism along with additional multi-threaded parallelization layers in a distributed computing framework. For a network of four second-generation detectors with $60$~min data from each, the runtime of the implementation presented here ranges between $approx 1.4$ to $approx 0.5$ times the data duration for network signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of $gtrsim 10$ and $gtrsim 12$, respectively. The reduced runtimes are obtained with small to negligible losses in detection sensitivity: for a false alarm rate of $simeq 1$~event per year in Gaussian stationary noise, the loss in detection probability is $leq 5%$ and $leq 2%$ for SNRs of $10$ and $12$, respectively. Using the fast implementation, we are able to quantify frequentist errors in parameter estimation for signals in the double neutron star mass range using a large number of simulated data realizations. A clear dependence of parameter estimation errors and detection sensitivity on the condition number of the network antenna pattern matrix is revealed. Combined with previous work, this paper securely establishes the effectiveness of PSO-based fully-coherent all-sky search across the entire binary inspiral mass range that is relevant to ground-based detectors.
Fully-coherent all-sky search for gravitational wave (GW) signals from the coalescence of compact object binaries is a computationally expensive task. Approximations, such as semi-coherent coincidence searches, are currently used to circumvent the computational barrier with a concomitant loss in sensitivity. We explore the effectiveness of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) in addressing this problem. Our results, using a simulated network of detectors with initial LIGO design sensitivities and a realistic signal strength, show that PSO can successfully deliver a fully-coherent all-sky search with < 1/10 the number of likelihood evaluations needed for a grid-based search.
Gravitational waves provide a unique tool for observational astronomy. While the first LIGO--Virgo catalogue of gravitational-wave transients (GWTC-1) contains eleven signals from black hole and neutron star binaries, the number of observations is increasing rapidly as detector sensitivity improves. To extract information from the observed signals, it is imperative to have fast, flexible, and scalable inference techniques. In a previous paper, we introduced BILBY: a modular and user-friendly Bayesian inference library adapted to address the needs of gravitational-wave inference. In this work, we demonstrate that BILBY produces reliable results for simulated gravitational-wave signals from compact binary mergers, and verify that it accurately reproduces results reported for the eleven GWTC-1 signals. Additionally, we provide configuration and output files for all analyses to allow for easy reproduction, modification, and future use. This work establishes that BILBY is primed and ready to analyse the rapidly growing population of compact binary coalescence gravitational-wave signals.
The multi-band template analysis (MBTA) pipeline is a low-latency coincident analysis pipeline for the detection of gravitational waves (GWs) from compact binary coalescences. MBTA runs with a low computational cost, and can identify candidate GW events online with a sub-minute latency. The low computational running cost of MBTA also makes it useful for data quality studies. Events detected by MBTA online can be used to alert astronomical partners for electromagnetic follow-up. We outline the current status of MBTA and give details of recent pipeline upgrades and validation tests that were performed in preparation for the first advanced detector observing period. The MBTA pipeline is ready for the outset of the advanced detector era and the exciting prospects it will bring.