Data Quality for Compact Binary Signals in the Era of Gravitational Wave Discovery

锡拉丘兹小组将支持激光干涉仪引力波天文台（LIGO）对引力波的搜索，特别强调对由黑洞和/或中子星组成的双星系统信号的搜索。该小组的研究将旨在开发更好的方法来识别短时间间隔时，LIGO的数据质量差，或当其中一个LIGO干涉仪产生假信号。这项工作将提高搜索新信号的灵敏度，增加我们对弱信号是真实的天文事件而不是仪器人工制品的信心。该小组将继续培养学生和博士后，他们将成为明天的顶尖科学家。P.I.还将完成一本关于引力波干涉仪技术的书的编辑工作，并在社会学家哈里·柯林斯教授完成引力波探测历史的研究并将该项目移交给新一代学者时，与他进行咨询，以支持社区内更广泛的理解。为了支持LIGO对紧凑双星系统信号的搜索，该小组将开发一种新技术来区分真正的黑洞双星信号和模拟信号的仪器瞬变信号，从而提高搜索的灵敏度和可靠性。他们将改进将辅助数据通道中的瞬态与主引力波通道中的伪二进制信号相关联的工具。该小组还将建立通过音频方法探索LIGO数据的工具，并将编译一个标准声音文件库，以便与有趣的事件进行比较。他们将开发新的工具，近乎实时地检查数据质量，以支持将引力波信号与电磁观测联系起来的努力。通过学习更好的方法来区分真正的引力波信号和仪器人造信号，锡拉丘兹小组将提高LIGO搜索的灵敏度，增加其结果的可信度。这项研究还将使仪器专家能够更清楚地关注对信号搜索有害的仪器问题，从而进一步提高性能。

The Syracuse group will support the search for gravitational waves by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), with special emphasis on the search for signals from binary star systems consisting of black holes and/or neutron stars. The group's research will be aimed at developing better ways to recognize brief intervals of time when LIGO's data is of poor quality or when one of the LIGO interferometers generates a spurious signal. This work will improve the sensitivity of searches for new signals by increasing our confidence that weak signals are real astronomical events, not instrumental artifacts. The group will continue to train students and postdocs who will be tomorrow's leading scientists. The P.I. will also support broader understanding in the community by completing the editing of a book on the technology of gravitational wave interferometers, and by consulting with sociologist Prof. Harry Collins as he completes his study of the history of gravitational wave detection and hands off the project to a new generation of scholars. In support of LIGO's search for signals from compact binary systems, the group will develop a new technique for distinguishing between genuine black hole binary signals and instrumental transients that mimic signals, improving the sensitivity and reliability of the search. They will improve on tools for associating transients in auxiliary data channels with spurious binary signals in the main gravitational wave channel. The group will also build tools for exploring the LIGO data via audio methods, and will compile a library of standard sound files for comparison with interesting events. They will develop new tools for examining data quality in close to real time, in support of the effort to link gravitational wave signals with electromagnetic observations. By learning better ways to distinguish between genuine gravitational wave signals and instrumental artifacts, the Syracuse group will improve the sensitivity of LIGO's searches and increase the believability of its results. This research will also enable instrument specialists to focus more clearly on instrumental problems that are detrimental to searches for signals, leading to further improved performance.