The road to Advanced LIGO's first observations

Document #:

LIGO-G1400823-v5

Document type:

G - Presentations (eg Graphics)

Abstract:

The Advanced LIGO (aLIGO) detectors will offer significantly increased sensitivity at a broader range of frequencies than previous terrestrial interferometric gravitational wave observatories. The aLIGO interferometers, along with international partner observatories, are expected to play a key role in launching a new era of astrophysics with direct gravitational wave observations.

Installation of upgraded aLIGO instrumentation is nearly complete at both sites and the Livingston detector had already exceeded a 20 Mpc inspiral range at the time of writing this abstract, surpassing its enhanced detector performance. As a result of this rapid commissioning progress, the first observing run of the Advanced LIGO detectors is now projected to begin in early summer 2015 - less than a year from now.

This talk will give an overview of the expected instrumentation commissioning timeline and the likely observation scenarios of Advanced LIGO. I will address the status of preparing to analyze aLIGO data with a focus on transient gravitational wave searches, and offer a first glimpse of the transient data quality of the Livingston interferometer compared to prior LIGO science runs.

Files in Document:

• NARDA.compressed.pdf (3.5 MB)

Other Files:

• NARDA.pptx (10.4 MB)

Topics:

• Detector Characterization

Authors:

• Jess McIver

Associated with Events:

NARDA 2014 held from 21 Aug 2014 to 22 Aug 2014 in California State University, Fullerton (CSUF)