Instrument Development and Data Analysis for LIGO

过去的两年是引力波天文学非常激动人心的一年，LIGO探测器首次探测到黑洞和中子星双星系统的引力波。GW170817在从伽马射线到无线电波的电磁波频谱上探测到中子星与电磁对撞星的碰撞，开启了以重力为信使之一的多信使天文学时代；路易斯安那州立大学的研究小组一直是这些发现的关键贡献者。该小组在未来几年的活动将集中在先进LIGO探测器的改进和先进LIGO干涉仪数据的表征方面。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，因为该天文台距离路易斯安那州立大学校园只有30英里。在进行研究时，该小组将培养学生和博士后，以提高STEM劳动力的质量和多样性，并与公众分享研究成果。LSU小组将在两个主要主题上进行研究活动，所有这些都与LIGO科学合作组织（LSC）协调，并关键是利用先进的LIGO探测器提高引力波的探测率。第一个主题是先进LIGO探测器的改进及其在未来设计中的应用；该小组将帮助诊断和改善探测器在频率域的噪音，因为更高的激光功率。该小组将对系统的性能进行建模，将模型与实际性能进行比较，然后将模型和经验应用于升级探测器的此类系统的概念开发。第二个主题是表征高级LIGO探测器的数据；该小组将识别仪器制品，特别是那些与该小组在校准和散射源方面的专业知识有关的制品。该小组将在可能的情况下消除瞬变的原因，如果不能，则创建数据分析算法，以最大限度地减少在LIGO数据中搜索天体物理信号时这些人为因素的影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The last two years were very exciting in gravitational wave astronomy, with the first several detections of gravitational waves with LIGO detectors of black holes and neutron star binary systems. The GW170817 detection of colliding neutron stars with electromagnetic counterparts on the spectrum of electromagnetic waves, from gamma-rays to radio waves, has started the era of multi-messenger astronomy with gravity being one of the messengers; the LSU group has been a critical contributor to these discoveries. The group's activities in the next years will 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. In doing its research, the group will train students and a postdoc who will add to the quality and diversity of the STEM workforce, as well as share the research with the general public.The LSU group will pursue research activities in two main topics, all coordinated with the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) and key to the improvement of detection rates of gravitational waves with the Advanced LIGO detectors. The first topic is Advanced LIGO detector improvement and application to future designs; the group will help diagnosing and improving the detector's noise in the frequency domain due to higher laser power. The group will model the performance of the system, compare models with actual performance, and then apply the models and the experience to the conceptual development of such systems for upgraded detectors. The second topic is characterizing data from Advanced LIGO detector; the group will identify instrumental artifacts, in particular those related to the group's expertise on calibration and scattering sources. The group will eliminate the cause of the transients when possible, and if not create data analysis algorithms for minimizing the influence of such artifacts in the search for astrophysical signals in LIGO data.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.