Mississippi's Contribution to Advanced LIGO's Search for Gravitational Waves

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The new Advanced LIGO detectors are on course to start soon their first science run. Before the end of this award period, Advanced LIGO may open a new, revolutionary window on the universe that will probe some of the most energetic and mysterious phenomena in the sky, from merger of black holes and explosions of supernovae to the internal structure of neutron stars. Gravitational-wave astronomy will allow scientists to see the universe from a novel and unique perspective, providing astrophysical insights that are not accessible with conventional telescopes. This research delivers vital contributions to Advanced LIGO's scientific core mission while strengthening LIGO's commitment to improving science education among diverse and underserved segments of the population, the youth and the general public. The success of the Advanced LIGO endeavor will have broader impacts in physics, astronomy, technology and engineering through the project's multiple spin offs. Research under this award will encourage the growth of scientific advancement in the southeast region of the United States, increase educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and enhance diversity in science. The activities funded through this award support Advanced LIGO research during detector commissioning and early science data taking phases. After the initial acceptance of the Advanced LIGO interferometers, University of Mississippi's researchers and students will work with LIGO personnel to characterize and improve the performance of the new instruments. These activities will be carried out on site by senior personnel and graduate students residing at the observatories, as well as off-site through the use of existing LIGO detector characterization tools and data mining techniques. In this phase, Mississippi's researchers and students will also contribute to the development, implementation and maintenance of dedicated software for data analysis and detector characterization. During the initial Advanced LIGO science runs, University of Mississippi's personnel will work in close contact with LIGO scientists to monitor and improve the performance of the detectors, mitigate unwanted non-astrophysical features in the data and reduce the background of Advanced LIGO's astrophysical searches.