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 of the search space, our implementations use the F-statistic to analytically maximize over the signal's amplitude and polarization, A and psi, and use the FFT to search quickly over burst arrival times t_C. The standard F-statistic is essentially a frequentist statistic that maximizes the likelihood; we also demonstrate an approximate, Bayesian version of the F-statistic that incorporates realistic priors on A and psi. We calculate how accurately LISA can expect to measure the physical parameters of string-burst sources. To understand LISA's angular resolution for string-burst sources, we draw maps of the waveform fitting factor [maximized over (A psi, t_C)] as a function of sky position; these maps dramatically illustrate why (for LISA) inferring the correct sky location of the emitting string loop will often be practically impossible. We also identify and elucidate several symmetries that are imbedded in this search problem, and we derive the distribution of cut-off frequencies f_max for observable bursts.
The LISA International Science Team Working Group on Data Analysis (LIST-WG1B) is sponsoring several rounds of mock data challenges, with the purposeof fostering the development of LISA data analysis capabilities, and of demonstrating technical readiness for the maximum science exploitation of the LISA data. The first round of challenge data sets were released at the Sixth LISA Symposium. We briefly describe the objectives, structure, and time-line of this programme.
The LISA International Science Team Working Group on Data Analysis (LIST-WG1B) is sponsoring several rounds of mock data challenges, with the purpose of fostering development of LISA data-analysis capabilities, and of demonstrating technical readiness for the maximum science exploitation of the LISA data. The first round of challenge data sets were released at this Symposium. We describe the models and conventions (for LISA and for gravitational-wave sources) used to prepare the data sets, the file format used to encode them, and the tools and resources available to support challenge participa…
We report on our F-statistic search for white-dwarf binary signals in the Mock LISA Data Challenge 1B (MLDC1B). We focus in particular on the improvements in our search pipeline since MLDC1, namely refinements in the search pipeline and the use of a more accurate detector response (rigid adiabatic approximation). The search method employs a hierarchical template-grid based exploration of the parameter space, using a coincidence step to distinguish between primary (``true'') and secondary maxima, followed by a final (multi-TDI) ``zoom'' stage to provide an accurate parameter estimation of the f…
The F-statistic is an optimal detection statistic for continuous gravitational waves, i.e., long-duration (quasi-)monochromatic signals with slowly-varying intrinsic frequency. This method was originally developed in the context of ground-based detectors, but it is equally applicable to LISA where many signals fall into this class of signals. We report on the application of a LIGO/GEO F-statistic code to LISA data-analysis using the long-wavelength limit (LWL), and we present results of our search for white-dwarf binary signals in the first Mock LISA Data Challenge. Somewhat surprisingly, the …
We are developing a Bayesian approach based on Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques to search for and extract information about white dwarf binary systems with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). Here we present results obtained by applying an initial implementation of this method to some of the data sets released in Round 1B of the Mock LISA Data Challenges. For Challenges 1B.1.1a and 1b the signals were recovered with parameters lying within the 95.5% posterior probability interval and the correlation between the true and recovered waveform is in excess of 99%. Results were not sub…
We report on the performance of an end-to-end Bayesian analysis pipeline for detecting and characterizing galactic binary signals in simulated LISA data. Our principal analysis tool is the Blocked-Annealed Metropolis Hasting (BAM) algorithm, which has been optimized to search for tens of thousands of overlapping signals across the LISA band. The BAM algorithm employs Bayesian model selection to determine the number of resolvable sources, and provides posterior distribution functions for all the model parameters. The BAM algorithm performed almost flawlessly on all the Round 1 Mock LISA Data Ch…
The Mock LISA Data Challenge is a worldwide effort to solve the LISA data analysis problem. We present here our results for the Massive Black Hole Binary (BBH) section of Round 1. Our results cover Challenge 1.2.1, where the coalescence of the binary is seen, and Challenge 1.2.2, where the coalescence occurs after the simulated observational period. The data stream is composed of Gaussian instrumental noise plus an unknown BBH waveform. Our search algorithm is based on a variant of the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method that uses Metropolis-Hastings sampling and thermostated frequency annealing. …
Coalescing massive Black Hole binaries are the strongest and probably the most important gravitational wave sources in the LISA band. The spin and orbital precessions bring complexity in the waveform and make the likelihood surface richer in structure as compared to the non-spinning case. We introduce an extended multimodal genetic algorithm which utilizes the properties of the signal and the detector response function to analyze the data from the third round of mock LISA data challenge (MLDC 3.2). The performance of this method is comparable, if not better, to already existing algorithms. We …
We describe a search for the extreme-mass-ratio inspiral sources in the Round 1B Mock LISA Data Challenge data sets. The search algorithm is a Monte-Carlo search based on the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, but also incorporates simulated, thermostated and time annealing, plus a harmonic identification stage designed to reduce the chance of the chain locking onto secondary maxima. In this paper, we focus on describing the algorithm that we have been developing. We give the results of the search of the Round 1B data, although parameter recovery has improved since that deadline. Finally, we descr…
Extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) of ~ 1-10 solar-mass compact objects into ~ million solar-mass massive black holes can serve as excellent probes of strong-field general relativity. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is expected to detect gravitational wave signals from apprxomiately one hundred EMRIs per year, but the data analysis of EMRI signals poses a unique set of challenges due to their long duration and the extensive parameter space of possible signals. One possible approach is to carry out a search for EMRI tracks in the time-frequency domain. We have applied a time-fre…
We present data analysis methods used in detection and the estimation of parameters of gravitational wave signals from the white dwarf binaries in the mock LISA data challenge. Our main focus is on the analysis of challenge 3.1, where the gravitational wave signals from more than 50 mln. Galactic binaries were added to the simulated Gaussian instrumental noise. Majority of the signals at low frequencies are not resolved individually. The confusion between the signals is strongly reduced at frequencies above 5 mHz. Our basic data analysis procedure is the maximum likelihood detection method. We…
The Mock Data Challenges (MLDCs) have the dual purpose of fostering the development of LISA data-analysis tools and capabilities and of demonstrating the technical readiness already achieved by the gravitational-wave community in distilling a rich science payoff from the LISA data. The first round of MLDCs has just been completed and the second-round data sets are being released shortly after this workshop. The second-round data sets contain radiation from an entire Galactic population of stellar-mass binary systems, from massive--black-hole binaries, and from extreme--mass-ratio inspirals. Th…
The planned Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is expected to detect gravitational wave signals from ~100 extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) of stellar-mass compact objects into massive black holes. The long duration and large parameter space of EMRI signals makes data analysis for these signals a challenging problem. One approach to EMRI data analysis is to use time-frequency methods. This consists of two steps: (i) searching for tracks from EMRI sources in a time-frequency spectrogram, and (ii) extracting parameter estimates from the tracks. In this paper we discuss the results of a…
The Mock LISA Data Challenges are a program to demonstrate LISA data-analysis capabilities and to encourage their development. Each round of challenges consists of one or more datasets containing simulated instrument noise and gravitational waves from sources of undisclosed parameters. Participants analyze the datasets and report best-fit solutions for the source parameters. Here we present the results of the third challenge, issued in Apr 2008, which demonstrated the positive recovery of signals from chirping Galactic binaries, from spinning supermassive--black-hole binaries (with optimal SNR…
The Mock LISA Data Challenges (MLDCs) have the dual purpose of fostering the development of LISA data analysis tools and capabilities, and demonstrating the technical readiness already achieved by the gravitational-wave community in distilling a rich science payoff from the LISA data output. The first round of MLDCs has just been completed: nine data sets containing simulated gravitational wave signals produced either by galactic binaries or massive black hole binaries embedded in simulated LISA instrumental noise were released in June 2006 with deadline for submission of results at the beginn…
The Mock LISA Data Challenges are a program to demonstrate LISA data-analysis capabilities and to encourage their development. Each round of challenges consists of several data sets containing simulated instrument noise and gravitational-wave sources of undisclosed parameters. Participants are asked to analyze the data sets and report the maximum information about source parameters. The challenges are being released in rounds of increasing complexity and realism: in this proceeding we present the results of Challenge 2, issued in January 2007, which successfully demonstrated the recovery of si…
The Mock LISA Data Challenges are a programme to demonstrate and encourage the development of LISA data-analysis capabilities, tools and techniques. At the time of this workshop, three rounds of challenges had been completed, and the next was about to start. In this article we provide a critical analysis of entries to the latest completed round, Challenge 1B. The entries confirm the consolidation of a range of data-analysis techniques for Galactic and massive--black-hole binaries, and they include the first convincing examples of detection and parameter estimation of extreme--mass-ratio inspir…
A main scientific output of the LISA Pathfinder mission is to provide a noise model that can be extended to the future gravitational wave observatory, LISA. The success of the mission depends thus upon a deep understanding of the instrument, especially the ability to correctly determine the parameters of the underlying noise model. In this work we estimate the parameters of a simplified model of the LISA Technology Package (LTP) instrument. We describe the LTP by means of a closed-loop model that is used to generate the data, both injected signals and noise. Then, parameters are estimated usin…
We report on the analysis of selected single source data sets from the first round of the Mock LISA Data Challenges (MLDC) for white dwarf binaries. We implemented an end-to-end pipeline consisting of a grid-based coherent pre-processing unit for signal detection, and an automatic Markov Chain Monte Carlo post-processing unit for signal evaluation. We demonstrate that signal detection with our coherent approach is secure and accurate, and is increased in accuracy and supplemented with additional information on the signal parameters by our Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach. We also demonstrate …
The analysis method currently proposed to search for isotropic stochastic radiation of primordial or astrophysical origin with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) relies on the combined use of two LISA channels, one of which is insensitive to gravitational waves, such as the symmetrised Sagnac. For this method to work, it is essential to know how the instrumental noise power in the two channels are related to one another; however, no quantitative estimates of this key information are available to date. The purpose of our study is to assess the performance of the symmetrised Sagnac me…
We describe an F-statistic search for continuous gravitational waves from galactic white-dwarf binaries in simulated LISA Data. Our search method employs a hierarchical template-grid based exploration of the parameter space. In the first stage, candidate sources are identified in searches using different simulated laser signal combinations (known as TDI variables). Since each source generates a primary maximum near its true "Doppler parameters" (intrinsic frequency and sky position) as well as numerous secondary maxima of the F-statistic in Doppler parameter space, a search for multiple source…
This article is an introduction for the nonpractitioner to the ideas and issues of LISA data analysis, as reflected in the explorations and experiments of the participants in the Mock LISA Data Challenges. In particular, I discuss the methods and codes that have been developed for the detection and parameter estimation of supermassive black-hole binaries, extreme mass-ratio inspirals, and Galactic binaries.
Data analysis for the proposed Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will be complicated by the huge number of sources in the LISA band. Throughout much of the band, galactic white dwarf binaries (GWDBs) are sufficiently dense in frequency space that it will be impossible to resolve most of them, and "confusion noise" from the unresolved Galactic binaries will dominate over instrumental noise in determining LISA's sensitivity to other sources in that band. Confusion noise from unresolved extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) could also contribute significantly to LISA's total noise curve. T…
In this paper we describe a Bayesian inference framework for analysis of data obtained by LISA. We set up a model for binary inspiral signals as defined for the Mock LISA Data Challenge 1.2 (MLDC), and implemented a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm to facilitate exploration and integration of the posterior distribution over the 9-dimensional parameter space. Here we present intermediate results showing how, using this method, information about the 9 parameters can be extracted from the data.
Stellar-mass binary black holes will sweep through the frequency band of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) for months to years before appearing in the audio-band of ground-based gravitational-wave detectors. One can expect several tens of these events up to a distance of $500 \,\mathrm{Mpc}$ each year. The LISA signal-to-noise ratio for such sources even at these close distances will be too small for a blind search to confidently detect them. However, next generation ground-based gravitational-wave detectors, expected to be operational at the time of LISA, will observe them with si…
Within its observational band the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, LISA, will simultaneously observe orbital modulated waveforms from Galactic white dwarf binaries, a binary black hole produced gravitational-wave background, and potentially a cosmologically created stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB). The overwhelming majority of stars end their lives as white dwarfs, making them very numerous in the Milky Way. We simulate Galactic white dwarf binary gravitational-wave emission based on distributions from various mock catalogs and determine a complex waveform from the Galactic f…
Gravitational waves from the inspiral and coalescence of supermassive black-hole (SMBH) binaries with masses ~10^6 Msun are likely to be among the strongest sources for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). We describe a three-stage data-analysis pipeline designed to search for and measure the parameters of SMBH binaries in LISA data. The first stage uses a time-frequency track-search method to search for inspiral signals and provide a coarse estimate of the black-hole masses m_1, m_2 and of the coalescence time of the binary t_c. The second stage uses a sequence of matched-filter tem…
This work presents the first application of the method of Genetic Algorithms (GAs) to data analysis for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). In the low frequency regime of the LISA band there are expected to be tens of thousands galactic binary systems that will be emitting gravitational waves detectable by LISA. The challenge of parameter extraction of such a large number of sources in the LISA data stream requires a search method that can efficiently explore the large parameter spaces involved. As signals of many of these sources will overlap, a global search method is desired. GAs…
In this work we use genetic algorithm to search for the gravitational wave signal from the inspiralling massive Black Hole binaries in the simulated LISA data. We consider a single signal in the Gaussian instrumental noise. This is a first step in preparation for analysis of the third round of the mock LISA data challenge. We have extended a genetic algorithm utilizing the properties of the signal and the detector response function. The performance of this method is comparable, if not better, to already existing algorithms.
The LISA time-delay-interferometry responses to a gravitational-wave signal are rewritten in a form that accounts for the motion of the LISA constellation around the Sun; the responses are given in closed analytic forms valid for any frequency in the band accessible to LISA. We then present a complete procedure, based on the principle of maximum likelihood, to search for stellar-mass binary systems in the LISA data. We define the required optimal filters, the amplitude-maximized detection statistic (analogous to the F statistic used in pulsar searches with ground-based interferometers), and di…
We present a method to search for gravitational waves from coalescing supermassive binary black holes in LISA data. The search utilizes the $\mathcal{F}$-statistic to maximize over, and determine the values of, the extrinsic parameters of the binary system. The intrinsic parameters are searched over hierarchically using stochastically generated multi-dimensional template banks to recover the masses and sky locations of the binary. We present the results of this method applied to the mock LISA data Challenge 1B data set.
The drag-free satellites of LISA will maintain the test masses in geodesic motion over many years with residual accelerations at unprecedented small levels and time delay interferometry (TDI) will keep track of their differential positions at level of picometers. This may allow investigations of fine details of the gravitational field in the Solar System previously inaccessible. In this spirit, we present the concept of a method to measure directly the gravitational effect of the density of diffuse Local Dark Matter (LDM) with a constellation of a few drag-free satellites, by exploiting how pe…
The gravitational wave signal from a compact object spiralling toward a massive black hole (MBH) is thought to be one of the most difficult sources to detect in the LISA data stream. Due to the large parameter space of possible signals and many orbital cycles spent in the sensitivity band of LISA, it has been estimated previously that of the order of 10^{35} templates would be required for a fully coherent search with a template grid, which is computationally impossible. Here we describe an algorithm based on a constrained Metropolis-Hastings stochastic search which allows us to find and accur…
The Galactic population of close white dwarf binaries is expected to provide the largest number of gravitational wave sources for low frequency detectors such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). Current data analysis techniques have demonstrated the capability of resolving on the order of $10^4$ white dwarf binaries from a 2 year observation. Resolved binaries are either at high frequencies or large amplitudes. Such systems are more likely to be high-mass binaries, a subset of which will be progenitors of SNe Ia in the double degenerate scenario. We report on results of a study o…
The Galaxy is suspected to contain hundreds of millions of binary white dwarf systems, a large fraction of which will have sufficiently small orbital period to emit gravitational radiation in band for space-based gravitational wave detectors such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). LISA's main science goal is the detection of cosmological events (supermassive black hole mergers, etc.) however the gravitational signal from the galaxy will be the dominant contribution to the data -- including instrumental noise -- over approximately two decades in frequency. The catalogue of detect…
Low frequency gravitational wave detectors, such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), will have to contend with large foregrounds produced by millions of compact galactic binaries in our galaxy. While these galactic signals are interesting in their own right, the unresolved component can obscure other sources. The science yield for the LISA mission can be improved if the brighter and more isolated foreground sources can be identified and regressed from the data. Since the signals overlap with one another we are faced with a ``cocktail party'' problem of picking out individual conv…
We consider the detection and initial guess problems for the LISA gravitational wave detector. The detection problem is the problem of how to determine if there is a signal present in instrumental data and how to identify it. Because of the Doppler and plane-precession spreading of the spectral power of the LISA signal, the usual power spectrum approach to detection will have difficulty identifying sources. A better method must be found. The initial guess problem involves how to generate {\it a priori} values for the parameters of a parameter-estimation problem that are close enough to the fin…
Cosmic strings are predicted to form kinks and cusps that travel along the string at close to the speed of light. These disturbances are radiated away as highly beamed gravitational waves that produce a burst like pulse as the cone of emission sweeps past an observer. Gravitational wave detectors such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and the Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (LIGO) will be capable of detecting these bursts for a wide class of string models. Such a detection would illuminate the fields of string theory, cosmology, and relativity. Here we develo…
We consider the problem of characterisation of burst sources detected with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) using the multi-modal nested sampling algorithm, MultiNest. We use MultiNest as a tool to search for modelled bursts from cosmic string cusps, and compute the Bayesian evidence associated with the cosmic string model. As an alternative burst model, we consider sine-Gaussian burst signals, and show how the evidence ratio can be used to choose between these two alternatives. We present results from an application of MultiNest to the last round of the Mock LISA Data Challenge, …
Probing ultralight bosons with LISA observations of spinning black hole mergers and follow-up searches of merger remnants
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics（Perimeter理论物理研究所）；University of Waterloo（滑铁卢大学）；Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)（马克斯·普朗克引力物理学研究所（爱因斯坦研究所））
The space-based gravitational wave (GW) detector LISA is expected to observe signals from a large population of compact object binaries, comprised predominantly of white dwarfs, in the Milky Way. Resolving individual sources from this population against its self-generated confusion noise poses a major data analysis problem. We present an iterative source estimation and subtraction method to address this problem based on the use of particle swarm optimization (PSO). In addition to PSO, a novel feature of the method is the cross-validation of sources estimated from the same data using different …
The Doppler boosted LISA response to gravitational waves
KU Leuven（荷语鲁汶大学）；Leuven Gravity Institute, KU Leuven（荷语鲁汶大学卢万引力研究所）；Université PSL（巴黎文理研究大学）；Sorbonne Université（索邦大学）；Université de Lille（里尔大学）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）
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…
Ultralight bosons can induce superradiant instabilities in spinning black holes, tapping their rotational energy to trigger the growth of a bosonic condensate. Possible observational imprints of these boson clouds include (i) direct detection of the nearly monochromatic (resolvable or stochastic) gravitational waves emitted by the condensate, and (ii) statistically significant evidence for the formation of "holes" at large spins in the spin versus mass plane (sometimes also referred to as "Regge plane") of astrophysical black holes. In this work, we focus on the prospects of LISA and LIGO dete…
\texttt{cWB-space}: A time-frequency transient-search pipeline for LISA
ETH Zurich（苏黎世联邦理工学院）；Universitat de les Illes Balears（巴利阿里群岛大学）；University of Trento（特伦托大学）；INFN-TIFPA, Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications（意大利国家核物理研究所-特伦托基础物理与应用研究所）
Gravitational wave (GW) radiations from numerous cosmic stellar-compact-binaries form a stochastic GW background (GWB), which is expected to be detected by ground and space GW detectors in future. Theoretical predictions of this GWB were mostly obtained by assuming either circular binaries and/or a specific channel for binary formation, which may have some uncertainties. In this paper, we estimate the GWB and its spectrum by using simple models for the formation of both stellar mass binary black holes (sBBHs) and binary neutron stars (BNSs). We consider that the dynamically originated sBBHs ha…
Coalescence of two massive black holes is the strongest and most promising source for LISA. In fact, gravitational signal from the end of inspiral and merger will be detectable throughout the Universe. In this article we describe the first step in the two-step hierarchical search for gravitational wave signal from the inspiraling massive BH binaries. It is based on the routinely used in the ground base gravitational wave astronomy method of filtering the data through the bank of templates. However we use a novel Monte-Carlo based (stochastic) method to lay a grid in the parameter space, and we…
We extend and improve earlier estimates of the ability of the proposed LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) gravitational wave detector to place upper bounds on the graviton mass, m_g, by comparing the arrival times of gravitational and electromagnetic signals from binary star systems. We show that the best possible limit on m_g obtainable this way is ~ 50 times better than the current limit set by Solar System measurements. Among currently known, well-understood binaries, 4U1820-30 is the best for this purpose; LISA observations of 4U1820-30 should yield a limit ~ 3-4 times better than t…
The detection of a stochastic background of gravitational waves could significantly impact our understanding of the physical processes that shaped the early Universe. The challenge lies in separating the cosmological signal from other stochastic processes such as instrument noise and astrophysical foregrounds. One approach is to build two or more detectors and cross correlate their output, thereby enhancing the common gravitational wave signal relative to the uncorrelated instrument noise. When only one detector is available, as will likely be the case with the Laser Interferometer Space Anten…
One of the most exciting prospects for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is the detection of gravitational waves from the inspirals of stellar-mass compact objects into supermassive black holes. Detection of these sources is an extremely challenging computational problem due to the large parameter space and low amplitude of the signals. However, recent work has suggested that the nearest extreme mass ratio inspiral (EMRI) events will be sufficiently loud that they might be detected using computationally cheap, template-free techniques, such as a time-frequency analysis. In this pap…
The NASA LISA Study Team was tasked to study how NASA might support US scientists to participate and maximize the science return from the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission. LISA is gravitational wave observatory led by ESA with NASA as a junior partner, and is scheduled to launch in 2034. Among our findings: LISA science productivity is greatly enhanced by a full-featured US science center and an open access data model. As other major missions have demonstrated, a science center acts as both a locus and an amplifier of research innovation, data analysis, user support, user trai…
