Validating gravitational-wave detections: The Advanced LIGO hardware injection system
2017
Hardware injections are simulated gravitational-wave signals added to the Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). The detectors' test masses are physically displaced by an
actuator in order to simulate the e�ects of a gravitational wave. The simulated signal initiates a
control-system response which mimics that of a true gravitational wave. This provides an end-toend
test of LIGO's ability to observe gravitational waves. The gravitational-wave analyses used to
detect and characterize signals are exercised with hardware injections. By looking for discrepancies
between the injected and recovered signals, we are able to characterize the performance of analyses
and the coupling of instrumental subsystems to the detectors' output channels. This paper describes
the hardware injection system and the recovery of injected signals representing binary black hole
mergers, a stochastic gravitational wave background, spinning neutron stars, and sine-Gaussians.
Keywords:
- Correction
- Source
- Cite
- Save
- Machine Reading By IdeaReader
0
References
41
Citations
NaN
KQI