Searches for Gravitational Wave Transients: Data Analysis and Detector Characterization for Advanced LIGO

引力波是时空曲率中的涟漪，由移动的质量以光速在宇宙中传播。由爱因斯坦的广义相对论(GR)--最普遍接受的引力波模型--所预测的引力波还没有被探测到。引力波的直接观测将是现代科学最基本的成果之一，也是对GR的终极检验。此外，引力波将是探索基础物理和天文学的一种全新的工具。他们将以电磁天文学无法达到的方式，探索推动宇宙中最剧烈的天体物理事件的物理学。美国先进激光干涉仪引力波天文台(ALIGO)的建设即将完成。ALIGO探测器将在2015年秋季进行第一次观测。在接下来的几年里，aLIGO及其国际合作伙伴探测器Virgo和KAGRA预计将首次探测到来自合并的致密双星物体的引力波，例如中子星和黑洞。黑洞碰撞产生的引力波、不对称的核心塌缩超新星、快速旋转的中子星，甚至大爆炸本身都是未来几年要探测的目标。该奖项支持对来自广泛类别天体物理源的引力波瞬变进行高优先级搜索。这些搜索能够探测到各种震源参数中的引力瞬变，包括尚未知晓的震源。它们瞄准了最极端的天体物理事件，如超新星、伽马射线爆发、中子星和黑洞的合并，并有望发现全新的天体物理现象。此外，它们还将把最有希望的高级LIGO搜索扩展到现有模板算法未涵盖的二进制参数空间。这些搜索有可能确定中等质量双星黑洞的存在，通过探测具有偏心轨道的双星来观察星系核的内部，并用中等质量比的双星源在高场条件下测试广义相对论。快速的源重建和天空定位将使联合观测成为可能，电磁望远镜将推动多信使天文学领域的发展。复杂的信号处理算法和源重构方法将被实现和应用于寻找源的极化和波形。一种新的小波回归方法将用于分析和表征aLIGO数据，目标识别、监测和消除耦合到探测器输出的环境噪声。将对噪声源进行研究，并测试新的噪声消除技术，以实现对引力波瞬变的首次可靠检测。

Gravitational waves are ripples in the curvature of space-time created by moving masses, which travel through the universe at the speed of light. Predicted by Einstein's Theory of General Relativity (GR) - the most commonly accepted model of gravity - gravitational waves have not been detected yet. The direct observations of gravitational waves would be one of the most fundamental results in the modern science and the ultimate test of GR. Also gravitational waves will be a radically new tool for exploring fundamental physics and astronomy. They will probe the physics driving the most violent astrophysical events in the universe in ways inaccessible to electromagnetic astronomy. The construction of the U.S. Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (aLIGO) is almost complete. The aLIGO detectors will conduct the first observations in the fall 2015. Within the next few years, aLIGO and its international partner detectors Virgo and Kagra expect to make the first detections of gravitational waves from merging compact binary objects, such as neutron stars and black holes. Gravitational waves produced by the collision of black holes, asymmetric core collapse supernovae, rapidly spinning neutron stars, and even by the Big Bang itself are targets for detection in the years to come. This award supports high priority searches for gravitational-wave transients from a broad class of astrophysical sources. These searches are capable of detecting gravitational transients in a wide range of source parameters, including yet unknown sources. They target the most extreme astrophysical events, such as supernovae, gamma-ray-bursts, mergers of neutron stars and black holes, and hold a promise for discoveries of entirely new astrophysical phenomena. Also, they will extend the most promising advanced LIGO searches for compact binary sources into the binary parameter space not covered by the existing template algorithms. These searches have a potential to establish the existence of intermediate mass binary black holes, look inside the galactic nuclei by detecting binaries with the eccentric orbits, and test the theory of general relativity at high field regime with the intermediate mass ratio binary sources. Rapid source reconstruction and sky localization will enable joint observations, with the electromagnetic telescopes advancing the field of the multi-messenger astronomy. Sophisticated signal processing algorithms and source reconstruction methods will be implemented and applied to find the source polarization and waveforms. A novel wavelet regression method will be used for the analysis and characterization of aLIGO data, targeting identification, monitoring and cancellation of environmental noise coupled into the detector output. Studies of noise sources will be performed and novel noise cancellation techniques will be tested to enable the first confident detection of gravitational-wave transients.