Data Quality for Binary Black Hole Searches with aLIGO

Other Versions:

Abstract:: The aLIGO detectors are expected to reach an unprecedented level of sensitivity, which will make direct observations of gravitational waves possible for the very first time. The search for gravitational wave signals, in particular, from the inspiral, merger and ringdown of black hole binaries has been limited by the presence of noise transients
called glitches which ``trigger" in the gravitational strain channel. We describe a technique for vetoing these glitches by finding correlations between possible glitches in our Binary Black Hole (BBH) Pipeline and noise transients identified in auxiliary channels of the aLIGO instrument. This involves finding the coincidence window between the triggers in the BBH pipeline and triggers in the auxiliary channels that maximizes the efficiency of eliminating glitches from the BBH pipeline and at the same time has a minimal impact on the detector live-time. The goal of this technique is to remove the non-gaussian instrumental transients seen in the gravitational wave strain data which will enable better determination of detection thresholds for actual gravitational wave signals from binary black holes.

Files in Document:

LIGO Document P1500191-v2