Session 1K: LIGO Parameter Estimation in 2018: The Effects of New Detectors and Better Sensitivity on Determining the Parameters of GW150914
Session Number
Session 1K: 2nd Presentation
Advisor(s)
Vicky Kalogera and Scott Coughlin, Northwestern University
Location
Room A119
Start Date
28-4-2017 8:30 AM
End Date
28-4-2017 9:45 AM
Abstract
Detecting gravitational waves has become a reality with GW150914 and will soon become a regular occurrence. A new detector is currently being built in Japan called KAGRA and INDIGO in India has been approved. A gravitational wave detector in Pisa, Italy, called VIRGO, will go online starting January 2017 and the current LIGO detectors in Hanford, Washington and Livingston, Louisiana will be upgraded by 2018. These enhancements along with the addition of more detectors should significantly improve the ability to estimate the astrophysical parameters that affect a gravitational wave signal. Previous experiments have explored the potential of additional or upgraded detectors, but none have had the opportunity to show the impact on a real signal. Our investigation injected a simulated gravitational wave generated using parameters from the official parameter estimation results from GW150914 into data simulated to match the predicted sensitivities of KAGRA, VIRGO and the new LIGO detectors. Comparing the parameter estimation results of GW150914 to those obtained in this analysis will demonstrate the astrophysics capable by LIGO in 2018. An effect of these improvements is that parameters that have not been measurable before could become significant. Another effect could be that uncertainties in key parameters such as the location in the sky that the signal came from should drastically reduce to a smaller uncertainty measurable by a telescope on Earth. The information collected will provide a better understanding of what exactly interferometers could provide for parameter estimation in the future.
Session 1K: LIGO Parameter Estimation in 2018: The Effects of New Detectors and Better Sensitivity on Determining the Parameters of GW150914
Room A119
Detecting gravitational waves has become a reality with GW150914 and will soon become a regular occurrence. A new detector is currently being built in Japan called KAGRA and INDIGO in India has been approved. A gravitational wave detector in Pisa, Italy, called VIRGO, will go online starting January 2017 and the current LIGO detectors in Hanford, Washington and Livingston, Louisiana will be upgraded by 2018. These enhancements along with the addition of more detectors should significantly improve the ability to estimate the astrophysical parameters that affect a gravitational wave signal. Previous experiments have explored the potential of additional or upgraded detectors, but none have had the opportunity to show the impact on a real signal. Our investigation injected a simulated gravitational wave generated using parameters from the official parameter estimation results from GW150914 into data simulated to match the predicted sensitivities of KAGRA, VIRGO and the new LIGO detectors. Comparing the parameter estimation results of GW150914 to those obtained in this analysis will demonstrate the astrophysics capable by LIGO in 2018. An effect of these improvements is that parameters that have not been measurable before could become significant. Another effect could be that uncertainties in key parameters such as the location in the sky that the signal came from should drastically reduce to a smaller uncertainty measurable by a telescope on Earth. The information collected will provide a better understanding of what exactly interferometers could provide for parameter estimation in the future.
Comments
Additional team members: Chris Pankow and Brandon Miller