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We present a comprehensive study of the effectiveness of Convolution Neural Networks (CNNs) to detect long duration transient gravitational-wave signals lasting $O(hours-days)$ from isolated neutron stars. We determine that CNNs are robust towards signal morphologies that differ from the training set, and they do not require many training injections/data to guarantee good detection efficiency and low false alarm probability. In fact, we only need to train one CNN on signal/noise maps in a single 150 Hz band; afterwards, the CNN can distinguish signals/noise well in any band, though with different efficiencies and false alarm probabilities due to the non-stationary noise in LIGO/Virgo. We demonstrate that we can control the false alarm probability for the CNNs by selecting the optimal threshold on the outputs of the CNN, which appears to be frequency dependent. Finally we compare the detection efficiencies of the networks to a well-established algorithm, the Generalized FrequencyHough (GFH), which maps curves in the time/frequency plane to lines in a plane that relates to the initial frequency/spindown of the source. The networks have similar sensitivities to the GFH but are orders of magnitude faster to run and can detect signals to which the GFH is blind. Using the results of our analysis, we propose strategies to apply CNNs to a real search using LIGO/Virgo data to overcome the obstacles that we would encounter, such as a finite amount of training data. We then use our networks and strategies to run a real search for a remnant of GW170817, making this the first time ever that a machine learning method has been applied to search for a gravitational wave signal from an isolated neutron star.
We describe a method to detect gravitational waves lasting $O(hours-days)$ emitted by young, isolated neutron stars, such as those that could form after a supernova or a binary neutron star merger, using advanced LIGO/Virgo data. The method is based on a generalization of the FrequencyHough (FH), a pipeline that performs hierarchical searches for continuous gravitational waves by mapping points in the time/frequency plane of the detector to lines in the frequency/spindown plane of the source. We show that signals whose spindowns are related to their frequencies by a power law can be transformed to coordinates where the behavior of these signals is always linear, and can therefore be searched for by the FH. We estimate the sensitivity of our search across different braking indices, and describe the portion of the parameter space we could explore in a search using varying fast Fourier Transform (FFT) lengths.
We describe a novel, very fast and robust, directed search incoherent method for periodic gravitational waves (GWs) from neutron stars in binary systems. As directed search, we assume the source sky position to be known with enough accuracy, but all other parameters are supposed to be unknown. We exploit the frequency-modulation due to source orbital motion to unveil the signal signature by commencing from a collection of time and frequency peaks. We validate our pipeline adding 131 artificial continuous GW signals from pulsars in binary systems to simulated detector Gaussian noise, characterized by a power spectral density Sh = 4x10^-24 Hz^-1/2 in the frequency interval [70, 200] Hz, which is overall commensurate with the advanced detector design sensitivities. The pipeline detected 128 signals, and the weakest signal injected and detected has a GW strain amplitude of ~10^-24, assuming one month of gapless data collected by a single advanced detector. We also provide sensitivity estimations, which show that, for a single- detector data covering one month of observation time, depending on the source orbital Doppler modulation, we can detect signals with an amplitude of ~7x10^-25. By using three detectors, and one year of data, we would easily gain more than a factor 3 in sensitivity, translating into being able to detect weaker signals. We also discuss the parameter estimate proficiency of our method, as well as computational budget, which is extremely cheap. In fact, sifting one month of single-detector data and 131 Hz-wide frequency range takes roughly 2.4 CPU hours. Due to the high computational speed, the current procedure can be readily applied in ally-sky schemes, sieving in parallel as many sky positions as permitted by the available computational power.
Many continuous gravitational wave searches are affected by instrumental spectral lines that could be confused with a continuous astrophysical signal. Several techniques have been developed to limit the effect of these lines by penalising signals that appear in only a single detector. We have developed a general method, using a convolutional neural network, to reduce the impact of instrumental artefacts on searches that use the SOAP algorithm. The method can identify features in corresponding frequency bands of each detector and classify these bands as containing a signal, an instrumental line, or noise. We tested the method against four different data-sets: Gaussian noise with time gaps, data from the final run of Initial LIGO (S6) with signals added, the reference S6 mock data challenge data set and signals injected into data from the second advanced LIGO observing run (O2). Using the S6 mock data challenge data set and at a 1% false alarm probability we showed that at 95% efficiency a fully-automated SOAP search has a sensitivity corresponding to a coherent signal-to-noise ratio of 110, equivalent to a sensitivity depth of 10 Hz$^{-1/2}$, making this automated search competitive with other searches requiring significantly more computing resources and human intervention.
Soft gamma repeaters and anomalous X-ray pulsars are thought to be magnetars, neutron stars with strong magnetic fields of order $mathord{sim} 10^{13}$--$10^{15} , mathrm{gauss}$. These objects emit intermittent bursts of hard X-rays and soft gamma rays. Quasiperiodic oscillations in the X-ray tails of giant flares imply the existence of neutron star oscillation modes which could emit gravitational waves powered by the magnetars magnetic energy reservoir. We describe a method to search for transient gravitational-wave signals associated with magnetar bursts with durations of 10s to 1000s of seconds. The sensitivity of this method is estimated by adding simulated waveforms to data from the sixth science run of Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). We find a search sensitivity in terms of the root sum square strain amplitude of $h_{mathrm{rss}} = 1.3 times 10^{-21} , mathrm{Hz}^{-1/2}$ for a half sine-Gaussian waveform with a central frequency $f_0 = 150 , mathrm{Hz}$ and a characteristic time $tau = 400 , mathrm{s}$. This corresponds to a gravitational wave energy of $E_{mathrm{GW}} = 4.3 times 10^{46} , mathrm{erg}$, the same order of magnitude as the 2004 giant flare which had an estimated electromagnetic energy of $E_{mathrm{EM}} = mathord{sim} 1.7 times 10^{46} (d/ 8.7 , mathrm{kpc})^2 , mathrm{erg}$, where $d$ is the distance to SGR 1806-20. We present an extrapolation of these results to Advanced LIGO, estimating a sensitivity to a gravitational wave energy of $E_{mathrm{GW}} = 3.2 times 10^{43} , mathrm{erg}$ for a magnetar at a distance of $1.6 , mathrm{kpc}$. These results suggest this search method can probe significantly below the energy budgets for magnetar burst emission mechanisms such as crust cracking and hydrodynamic deformation.
The groundbreaking discoveries of gravitational waves from binary black-hole mergers and, most recently, coalescing neutron stars started a new era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics and revolutionized our understanding of the Cosmos. Machine learning techniques such as artificial neural networks are already transforming many technological fields and have also proven successful in gravitational-wave astrophysics for detection and characterization of gravitational-wave signals from binary black holes. Here we use a deep-learning approach to rapidly identify transient gravitational-wave signals from binary neutron star mergers in noisy time series representative of typical gravitational-wave detector data. Specifically, we show that a deep convolution neural network trained on 100,000 data samples can rapidly identify binary neutron star gravitational-wave signals and distinguish them from noise and signals from merging black hole binaries. These results demonstrate the potential of artificial neural networks for real-time detection of gravitational-wave signals from binary neutron star mergers, which is critical for a prompt follow-up and detailed observation of the electromagnetic and astro-particle counterparts accompanying these important transients.