Searches for gravitational wave bursts that are triggered by the observation of astronomical events require a different mode of analysis than all-sky, blind searches. For one, much more prior information is usually available in a triggered search which can and should be used in the analysis. Second, since the data volume is usually small in a triggered search, it is also possible to use computationally more expensive algorithms for tasks such as data pre-processing that can consume significant computing resources in a high data-volume un-triggered search. From the statistical point of view, the reduction in the parameter space search volume leads to higher sensitivity than an un-triggered search. We describe here a data analysis pipeline for triggered searches, called {\tt RIDGE}, and present preliminary results for simulated noise and signals.
In gravitational-wave detection, special emphasis is put onto searches that focus on cosmic events detected by other types of astrophysical observatories. The astrophysical triggers, e.g. from gamma-ray and X-ray satellites, optical telescopes and neutrino observatories, provide a trigger time for analyzing gravitational wave data coincident with the event. In certain cases the expected frequency range, source energetics, directional and progenitor information is also available. Beyond allowing the recognition of gravitational waveforms with amplitudes closer to the noise floor of the detector…
We present recent results from searches by the LIGO Science Collaboration for bursts of gravitational-wave radiation, as well as the status of other ongoing searches. These include directed searches for bursts associated with observed sources (gamma-ray bursts, soft gamma repeaters) and untriggered searches for bursts from unknown sources. We also present the status of some newer investigations, such as coherent network methods. We show methods for interpreting our search results in terms of astrophysical source distributions that improve their accessibility to the wider community.
We present the performance of searches for gravitational wave bursts associated with external astrophysical triggers as a function of the search sky region. We discuss both the case of Gaussian noise and real noise of gravitational wave detectors for arbitrary detector networks. We demonstrate the ability to reach Gaussian limited sensitivity in real non-Gaussian data, and show the conditions required to attain it. We find that a single sky position search is ~20% more sensitive than an all-sky search of the same data.
We discuss the relevance, for the search of gravitational-wave bursts, of upper limits on the total mass loss of the Galaxy which come from various astronomical observations. For sub-millisecond bursts we obtain limits on the event rate, as a function of the GW amplitude, which are stronger than the corresponding upper limits set by LIGO in the S2 run. A detection of a burst rate saturating these limits, with the sensitivities of present and near-future runs, would imply that, with some improvement on the accuracy of astronomical observations of the Galaxy, as foreseen with the GAIA mission, i…
We examine the benefits of performing a joint LIGO--Virgo search for transient signals. We do this by adding burst and inspiral signals to 24 hours of simulated detector data. We find significant advantages to performing a joint coincidence analysis, above either a LIGO only or Virgo only search. These include an increased detection efficiency, at a fixed false alarm rate, to both burst and inspiral events and an ability to reconstruct the sky location of a signal.
Autonomous gravitational-wave searches -- fully automated analyses of data that run without human intervention or assistance -- are desirable for a number of reasons. They are necessary for the rapid identification of gravitational-wave burst candidates, which in turn will allow for follow-up observations by other observatories and the maximum exploitation of their scientific potential. A fully automated analysis would also circumvent the traditional "by hand" setup and tuning of burst searches that is both labourious and time consuming. We demonstrate a fully automated search with X-Pipeline,…
The LIGO gravitational wave detectors have recently reached their design sensitivity and finished a two-year science run. During this period one year of data with unprecedented sensitivity has been collected. I will briefly describe the status of the LIGO detectors and the overall quality of the most recent science run. I also will present results of a search for inspiral waveforms in gravitational wave data coincident with the short gamma ray burst detected on 1st February 2007, with its sky location error box overlapping a spiral arms of M31. No gravitational wave signals were detected and a…
This brief report describes the search for gravitational-wave inspiral signals from short gamma-ray bursts. Since these events are probably created by the merger of two compact objects, a targeted search with a lower threshold can be made. The data around 22 short gamma-ray bursts have been analyzed.
The search procedure for burst gravitational waves has been studied using 24 hours of simulated data in a network of three interferometers (Hanford 4-km, Livingston 4-km and Virgo 3-km are the example interferometers). Several methods to detect burst events developed in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) and Virgo collaboration have been studied and compared. We have performed coincidence analysis of the triggers obtained in the different interferometers with and without simulated signals added to the data. The benefits of having multiple interferometers of similar sensitivity are demonst…
We describe a coherent network algorithm for detection and reconstruction of gravitational wave bursts. The algorithm works for two and more arbitrarily aligned detectors and can be used for both all-sky and triggered burst searches. We describe the main components of the algorithm, including the time-frequency analysis in wavelet domain, construction of the likelihood time-frequency maps, the identification and selection of burst events.
Short, hard gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are believed to originate from the coalescence of two neutron stars (NSs) or a NS and a black hole (BH). If this scenario is correct, then short GRBs will be accompanied by the emission of strong gravitational waves (GWs), detectable by GW observatories such as LIGO, Virgo, KAGRA, and LIGO-India. As compared with blind, all-sky, all-time GW searches, externally triggered searches for GW counterparts to short GRBs have the advantages of both significantly reduced detection threshold due to known time and sky location and enhanced GW amplitude because of face-…
The detection of gravitational waves from astrophysical sources of gravitational waves is a realistic goal for the current generation of interferometric gravitational-wave detectors. Short duration bursts of gravitational waves from core-collapse supernovae or mergers of binary black holes may bring a wealth of astronomical and astrophysical information. The weakness of the waves and the rarity of the events urges the development of optimal methods to detect the waves. The waves from these sources are not generally known well enough to use matched filtering however; this drives the need to dev…
A network of observable, macroscopic cosmic (super-)strings may have formed in the early universe. If so, the cusps that generically develop on cosmic-string loops emit bursts of gravitational radiation that could be detectable by both ground- and space-based gravitational-wave interferometers. Here we report on two versions of a LISA-oriented string-burst search pipeline that we have developed and tested within the context of the Mock LISA Data Challenges. The two versions rely on the publicly available MultiNest and PyMC software packages, respectively. To reduce the effective dimensionality…
Minute-long Gravitational Wave (GW) transients are events lasting from few to hundreds of seconds. In opposition to compact binary mergers, their GW signals cover a wide range of poorly understood astrophysical phenomena such as accretion disk instabilities and magnetar flares. The lack of accurate and rapidly generated gravitational-wave emission models prevents the use of matched filtering methods. Such events are thus probed through the template-free excess-power method, consisting in searching for a local excess of power in the time-frequency space correlated between detectors. The problem…
The most popular model for short gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs) involves the coalescence of binary neutron stars. Because the progenitor is actually hidden from view, we must consider under which circumstances such merging systems are capable of producing a successful sGRB. Soon after coalescence, winds are launched from the merger remnant. In this paper, we use realistic wind profiles derived from global merger simulations in order to investigate the interaction of sGRB jets with these winds using numerical simulations. We analyze the conditions for which these axisymmetric winds permit relativisti…
We present a heterogeneous search algorithm for broadband extended gravitational-wave emission (BEGE), expected from gamma-ray bursts and energetic core-collapse supernovae. It searches the $(f,\dot{f})$-plane for long duration bursts by inner engines slowly exhausting their energy reservoir by matched filtering on a {\em Graphics Processor Unit} (GPU) over a template bank of millions of one-second duration chirps. Parseval's Theorem is used to predict the standard deviation $σ$ of filter output, taking advantage of near-Gaussian noise in LIGO S6 data over 350-2000 Hz. Tails exceeding a mulitp…
We present a comparative study of 6 search methods for gravitational wave bursts using simulated LIGO and Virgo noise data. The data's spectra were chosen to follow the design sensitivity of the two 4km LIGO interferometers and the 3km Virgo interferometer. The searches were applied on replicas of the data sets to which 8 different signals were injected. Three figures of merit were employed in this analysis: (a) Receiver Operator Characteristic curves, (b) necessary signal to noise ratios for the searches to achieve 50 percent and 90 percent efficiencies, and (c) variance and bias for the esti…
An analytic model a la Middleton of the impulsive noise component in the data of interferometric gravitational wave detectors is proposed, based on an atomic representation of glitches. A fully analytic characterization of the coherent network data analysis algorithm proposed by Rakhmanov and Klimenko is obtained, for the simplest relevant case of triggered detection of unmodeled gravitational wave bursts, using the above noise model. The detector's performance is evaluated under a suitable central-limit hypothesis, and the effects of both the noisiness of the pseudo-templates, and the presenc…
In this paper we present a method for conducting a coherent search for single spin compact binary coalescences in gravitational wave data and compare this search to the existing coincidence method for single spin searches. We propose a method to characterize the regions of the parameter space where the single spin search, both coincident and coherent, will increase detection efficiency over the existing non-precessing search. We also show example results of the coherent search on a stretch of data from LIGO's fourth science run but note that a set of signal based vetoes will be needed before t…
Mergers of two compact objects, like two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole, are the probable progenitor of short gamma-ray bursts. These events are also promising sources of gravitational waves, that are currently motivating related searches by an international network of gravitational wave detectors. Here we describe a search for gravitational waves from the in-spiral phase of two coalescing compact objects, in coincidence with short GRBs occurred during during LIGO's fifth science run and Virgo's first science run. The search includes 22 GRBs for which data from more than one …
Coherent WaveBurst is a generic, multidetector gravitational wave burst search based on the excess power approach. The coherent WaveBurst algorithm currently employed in the all-sky short-duration gravitational wave burst search uses a conditional approach on selected attributes in the multidimensional event attribute space to distinguish between noisy events from that of astrophysical origin. We have been developing a supervised machine learning approach based on the Gaussian mixture modeling to model the attribute space for signals as well as noise events to enhance the probability of burst …
We report on the first joint search for gravitational waves by the TAMA and LIGO collaborations. We looked for millisecond-duration unmodelled gravitational-wave bursts in 473 hr of coincident data collected during early 2003. No candidate signals were found. We set an upper limit of 0.12 events per day on the rate of detectable gravitational-wave bursts, at 90% confidence level. From simulations, we estimate that our detector network was sensitive to bursts with root-sum-square strain amplitude above approximately 1-3x10^{-19} Hz^{-1/2} in the frequency band 700-2000 Hz. We describe the detai…
Several models of gamma-ray burst progenitors suggest that the gamma-ray event may be followed by gravitational wave signals of $10^3$-$10^4$ seconds duration (possibly accompanying the so-called X-ray afterglow "plateaus"). We term these signals "intermediate-duration" because they are shorter than continuous wave signals but longer than signals traditionally considered as gravitational wave bursts, and are difficult to detect with most burst and continuous wave methods. The cross-correlation technique proposed by [S. Dhurandhar et al., Phys. Rev. D 77, 082001 (2008)], which so far has been u…
I explore the possibility of resurrecting an old, non-Bayesian computational approach for inferring the source direction of a gravitational wave from the output of a two-detector network. The method gives the beam pattern response functions and time delay, and performs well even in the presence of noise and unexpected signal forms. I further suggest an improvement to this method in the form of a weighting algorithm that usefully improves its accuracy beyond what can be achieved with simple best-fit methods, validating the new procedure with several small-scale simulations. The approach is iden…
Black-hole neutron-star coalescing binaries have been invoked as one of the most suitable scenario to explain the emission of short gamma-ray bursts. Indeed, if the black-hole which forms after the merger, is surrounded by a massive disk, neutrino annihilation processes may produce high-energy and collimated electromagnetic radiation. In this paper, we devise a new procedure, to be used in the search for gravitational waves from black-hole-neutron-star binaries, to assign a probability that a detected gravitational signal is associated to the formation of an accreting disk, massive enough to p…
Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) are being used to search for very low frequency gravitational waves. A gravitational wave signal appears in pulsar timing residuals through two components: one independent of and one dependent on the pulsar's distance, called the 'Earth term' (ET) and 'pulsar term' (PT), respectively. The signal of a burst (or transient) gravitational wave source in pulsars' residuals will in general have the Earth and pulsar terms separated by times of the order of the time of flight from the pulsar to the Earth. Therefore, both terms are not observable over a realistic observation…
In dense stellar regions, highly eccentric binaries of black holes and neutron stars can form through various n-body interactions. Such a binary could emit a significant fraction of its binding energy in a sequence of largely isolated gravitational wave bursts prior to merger. Given expected black hole and neutron star masses, many such systems will emit these repeated bursts at frequencies within the sensitive band of contemporary ground-based gravitational wave detectors. Unfortunately, existing gravitational wave searches are ill-suited to detect these signals. In this work, we adapt a "pow…
Detection of gravitational waves (GW) from highly eccentric binary black hole (BBH) systems can provide insight into their dynamics and formation. To date, all of the LIGO-Virgo BBH detections have been made using quasi-circular templates in their initial discovery. However, recent studies have found some of these systems to be compatible with high eccentricity in the LIGO band, $e_{10 \textrm{Hz}} > 0.1$, possibly pointing to a population of sources that are challenging to detect. Current low-latency search methods used with ground-based GW detector data are not well equipped to detect highly…
LIGO Laboratory（LIGO实验室）；California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院）
One class of gravitational wave signals LIGO is searching for consists of short duration bursts of unknown waveforms. Potential sources include core collapse supernovae, gamma ray burst progenitors, and mergers of binary black holes or neutron stars. We present a density-based clustering algorithm to improve the performance of time-frequency searches for such gravitational-wave bursts when they are extended in time and/or frequency, and not sufficiently well known to permit matched filtering. We have implemented this algorithm as an extension to the QPipeline, a gravitational-wave data analysi…
We show that sudden variations in the composition and structure of an hybrid star can be triggered by its rapid spin-down, induced by r-mode instabilities. The discontinuity of this process is due to the surface tension between hadronic and quark matter and in particular to the overpressure needed to nucleate new structures of quark matter in the mixed phase. The consequent mini-collapses in the star can produce highly energetic gravitational wave bursts. The possible connection between the predictions of this model and the burst signal found by EXPLORER and NAUTILUS detectors during the year …
The equation of state plays a critical role in the physics of the merger of two neutron stars. Recent numerical simulations with microphysical equation of state suggest the outcome of such events depends on the mass of the neutron stars. For less massive systems, simulations favor the formation of a hypermassive, quasi-stable neutron star, whose oscillations produce a short, high frequency burst of gravitational radiation. Its dominant frequency content is tightly correlated with the radius of the neutron star, and its measurement can be used to constrain the supranuclear equation of state. In…
Electromagnetic (EM) counterparts to supermassive black hole binary mergers observed by LISA can be localized to within the field of view of astronomical instruments ~10 deg^2 hours to weeks prior to coalescence. The temporal coincidence of any prompt EM counterpart with a gravitationally-timed merger may offer the best chance of identifying a unique host galaxy. We discuss the challenges posed by searches for prompt EM counterparts and propose novel observational strategies to address them. In particular, we discuss the size and shape evolution of the LISA localization error ellipses on the s…
Magnetars are neutron stars with exceptionally strong dipole magnetic fields which are observed to display a range of x-ray flaring behavior, but the flaring mechanism is not well understood. The third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo extended from April 1, 2019 to March 27, 2020, and contained x-ray flares from known magnetar SGR 1935+2154, as well as the newly-discovered magnetar, Swift J1818-1607. We search for gravitational waves coincident with these magnetar flares with minimally modeled, coherent searches which specifically target both short-duration gravitational waves produced…
Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) are flashes of gamma-rays thought to originate from rare forms of massive star collapse (long GRBs), or from mergers of compact binaries (short GRBs) containing at least one neutron star (NS). The nature of the post-explosion / post-merger remnant (NS versus black hole, BH) remains highly debated. In ~50% of both long and short GRBs, the temporal evolution of the X-ray afterglow that follows the flash of gamma-rays is observed to "plateau" on timescales of 100-10000 s since explosion, possibly signaling the presence of energy injection from a long-lived, highly magnetiz…
Gravitational wave astronomy opened dramatically in September 2015 with the LIGO discovery of a distant and massive binary black hole coalescence. The more recent discovery of a binary neutron star merger, followed by a gamma ray burst and a kilonova, reinforces the excitement of this new era, in which we may soon see other sources of gravitational waves, including continuous, nearly monochromatic signals. Potential continuous wave (CW) sources include rapidly spinning galactic neutron stars and more exotic possibilities, such as emission from axion Bose Einstein "clouds" surrounding black hol…
Berezinsky, Hnatyk and Vilenkin showed that superconducting cosmic strings could be central engines for cosmological gamma-ray bursts and for producing the neutrino component of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. A consequence of this mechanism would be that a detectable cusp-triggered gravitational wave burst should be released simultaneously with the $γ$-ray surge. If contemporary measurements of both $γ$ and $ν$ radiation could be made for any particular source, then the cosmological time-delay between them might be useful for putting unprecedently tight bounds on the neutrino mass spectrum. Su…
Gamma-Ray Bursts are likely associated with a catastrophic energy release in stellar mass objects. Electromagnetic observations provide important, but indirect information on the progenitor. On the other hand, gravitational waves emitted from the central source, carry direct information on its nature. In this context, I give an overview of the multi-messenger study of gamma-ray bursts that can be carried out by using electromagnetic and gravitational wave observations. I also underline the importance of joint electromagnetic and gravitational wave searches, in the absence of a gamma-ray trigge…
