Instrument Development and Data Analysis for LIGO

接下来的几年将是引力波物理学中非常令人兴奋的几年。在2015-18年，先进的LIGO探测器将在第一次观测中产生数据，其灵敏度和首次直接探测爱因斯坦广义相对论预测的引力波的可能性越来越高。预计第一批探测到的信号将来自中子星合并形成黑洞，这是一个灾难性的天体物理事件。其他可能的信号来自两个黑洞合并成一个更大的黑洞，以及中子星星和黑洞的合并，将导致对宇宙中黑洞的存在和特征的伟大天文见解。 该小组的活动重点是改进先进LIGO探测器和表征先进LIGO干涉仪的数据。 这些工作与LIGO科学合作组织（LSC）的工作完全结合在一起，特别是与LIGO利文斯顿天文台的活动结合在一起，因为该天文台距离LSU校园只有30英里。LSU小组将在两个主要课题上开展研究活动，所有这些都与LSC协调，并且是使用高级LIGO探测器探测引力波的关键。一是探测器改进：诊断和改进探测器的噪声谱密度、数据质量和仪器伪像;探测器的校准，包括误差预算和不同方法的交叉验证;环境监测和影响缓解;以及诊断和减少悬挂测试质量中的瞬态。第二个是探测器数据的表征：识别和否决仪器伪像;开发定量统计方法，使用引力波候选者的“后续调查”结果来衡量其天体物理性质的置信度，并减少它们可能是由于罕见的仪器伪像。

The next few years will be very exciting in gravitational wave physics. In 2015-18, the Advanced LIGO detectors will produce data in the first Observing Runs, with increasing sensitivity and likelihood of the first direct detection of the gravitational waves predicted by Einstein's theory of General Relativity. The expected first detected signals will be from neutron stars coalescing to form a black hole, a cataclysmic astrophysical event. Other possible signals from the coalescence of two black holes into a larger one, and from the merging of a neutron star and a black hole, would lead to great astronomical insights of the existence and features of black holes in the Universe. This group's activities focus on aspects of improvement of the Advanced LIGO detectors and the characterization of data from the Advanced LIGO interferometer. These efforts are fully integrated with those of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), and are especially integrated with the activities of the LIGO Livingston Observatory, since that Observatory is located only 30 miles from the LSU campus. The LSU group will pursue research activities in two main topics, all coordinated with the LSC and key to the detection of gravitational waves with the Advanced LIGO detectors. One is detector improvement: diagnosing and improving the detector's noise spectral density, data quality and instrument artifacts; calibration of the detector, including error budget and cross validation with different methods; environmental monitoring and effect mitigation; and diagnosing and reduction of transients in suspended test masses. The second is the characterization of the detectors' data: identifying and vetoing instrumental artifacts; developing quantitative statistical methods to use the result of "follow up investigations" of gravitational wave candidates to measure confidence in their astrophysical nature, and reduce the possibility that they may be due to rare instrumental artifacts.