A high-frequency gravitational-wave burst search with LIGO's Hanford site

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a network of long-arm interferometers designed to directly measure gravitational-wave strain. Direct observation of gravitational waves would provide a test of general relativity, as well as new insight into high-energy astrophysics. As of yet there have been no confirmed direct observations of gravitational waves, the largest of which are expected to be near the limit of LIGO's sensitivity. Analyses of LIGO data face the challenge of distinguishing small gravitational-wave signals from noise. This thesis presents a blind analysis of data from LIGO's fifth science run (November 2005-October 2007), searching for high-frequency gravitational-wave bursts coincident in data from the two LIGO interferometers located in Hanford, WA. The search for high-frequency gravitational-wave bursts is motivated by potential astrophysical sources such as supernovae and neutron stars, and enabled by the improvement of LIGO's sensitivity and the extension of the LIGO calibration up to 6 kHz. This analysis searches for gravitational-wave candidates with a duration under 1 second and central frequency from 1 to 6 kHz, of unspecified signal shape, during times when LIGO's two Hanford detectors were in science mode but its detector in Livingston, LA was not in science mode. The search is a blind analysis, developed using a set of background data that was previously established not to contain any gravitational-wave candidates.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Villadsen, Jacqueline Rose

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Erotokritos Katsavounidis.

• Physics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/51585

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/51585