Enabling Confident Burst Gravitational Wave Detections with LIGO Data Quality Investigations

LIGO首次直接探测到引力波，使人类能够对双黑洞系统进行范式转换的观测。从那以后，又有几十次引力波探测，它们都来自同一类型的源：双星合并。从这些观测中，我们已经了解了很多关于我们宇宙的知识，但更多的物理现象将通过观测新的源类（如爆发引力波）来探索。爆发是一种引力波，其来源无法自信地建模或无法预料。正因为如此，我们对它们知之甚少，但它们有可能导致我们对宇宙的新发现。在这个奖项中进行的研究将通过减少与LIGO一起寻找爆发引力波的小故障的影响，使自信的爆发引力波探测成为可能。该奖项的重点是培养本科生为这项研究做出重大贡献，正式指导他们负责任的研究行为，并通过与附近的美国直升机博物馆和教育中心（AHMEC）的合作，在专业会议上向专业科学家和公众传播他们的工作。该奖项还包括为至少9名弱势女孩和年轻女性（每年3名）提供学费支持，帮助她们参加由AHMEC运营的“科学技术女孩”（GIST）项目。提出的研究将通过减少瞬态数据伪像（小故障）对搜索算法的影响，增加对爆发引力波候选探测的信心。对爆发引力波的搜索不能对他们所寻找的波形做出假设，因为它们是短暂的，与周围探测器的噪声无关。正因为如此，突发搜索算法被设计为检测检测器输出中的统计过剩，并且特别容易受到源自仪器或其环境的故障的影响。当突发搜索算法将故障识别为潜在的检测候选时，会产生意外触发。通过对意外触发分布的仔细研究，可以通过直接从搜索中删除（否决）来减轻对突发搜索影响最大的故障。该合同将涉及开发突发搜索的否决权，调查基于故障存在的可信度（而不是简单地排除时间）降低候选事件重要性的否决权，将现有否决权工具的结果自动化应用于突发搜索，基于搜索的当前性能测量突发搜索的可探测范围，以及促进相关工作组之间的协调。这将降低虚警概率，提高候选探测的置信度，提高突发引力波搜索的灵敏度，增加引力波天文学和多信使天文学不断发展的领域的观测。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。

LIGO’s first direct detection of a gravitational wave has allowed humans to make paradigm-shifting observations of a binary black hole system. Since then, there have been tens of additional gravitational wave detections and all have been from the same source class: binary coalescences. Much has been learned about our Universe from these observations, but additional physical phenomena will be explored through observations of new source classes such as burst gravitational waves. Bursts are a class of gravitational waves that originate from sources that can’t be modeled confidently or are unanticipated. Because of this, little is known about them, yet they hold the potential to lead to new discoveries about our Universe. The research conducted in this award will enable confident burst gravitational wave detections by reducing the impact of glitches in the search for burst gravitational waves with LIGO. This award focuses on training undergraduate students to significantly contribute to this research, formally instructing them in the responsible conduct of research, and communicating their work to both professional scientists at professional meetings and the public through a partnership with the nearby American Helicopter Museum and Education Center (AHMEC). This award also includes tuition support for at least 9 disadvantaged girls and young women (3 each year) to participate in the Girls in Science and Technology (GIST) program run by the AHMEC. The research proposed will increase the confidence in candidate detections of burst gravitational waves by decreasing the impact of transient data artifacts (glitches) on their search algorithms. Searches for burst gravitational waves cannot make assumptions about the waveforms they seek other than they are transient and uncorrelated with the ambient detector noise. Because of that, burst search algorithms are designed to detect statistical excesses in the detector output and are particularly susceptible to the presence of glitches originating from the instrument or its environment. An accidental trigger is generated when the burst search algorithm identifies a glitch as a potential detection candidate. By conducting careful studies on the accidental trigger distribution, glitches with the most impact on the burst searches can be mitigated through their direct removal (veto) from searches. This award will involve the development of vetoes for burst searches, investigations into vetoes that reduce the significance of candidate events based on the confidence that a glitch is present (instead of simply excluding the time), automation of applying results from existing veto tools to burst searches, measurement of the detectable range for a burst search based on the current performance of the search, and facilitating coordination between relevant working groups. This will result in a lower false alarm probability and higher confidence of candidate detections, improved sensitivity of the burst gravitational wave searches, and increased observations for the growing fields of gravitational wave astronomy and multi-messenger astronomy.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.