Modulating the experimental signature of a stochastic gravitational wave background
نویسندگان
چکیده
Detecting a stationary, stochastic gravitational wave signal is complicated by impossibility of observing the detector noise independently of the signal. One consequence is that we require at least two detectors to observe the signal, which will be apparent in the cross-correlation of the detector outputs. A corollary is that there remains a systematic error, associated with the possible presence of correlated instrumental noise, in any observation aimed at estimating or limiting a stochastic gravitational wave signal. Here we describe a method of identifying this systematic error by varying the orientation of one of the detectors, leading to separate and independent modulations of the signal and noise contribution to the cross-correlation. Our method can be applied to measurements of a stochastic gravitational wave background by the ALLEGRO/LIGO Livingston Observatory detector pair. We explore — in the context of this detector pair — how this new measurement technique is insensitive to a cross-correlated detector noise component that can confound a conventional measurement. PACS numbers: 04.80.Nn, 04.80.-y, 95.55.Ym Typeset using REVTEX
منابع مشابه
A technique to modulate the signature of a stochastic gravitational wave background
Detecting a stationary, stochastic gravitational wave signal is complicated by the impossibility of observing detector noise independently of the signal. Here we describe a method of identifying this source of systematic error by varying the orientation of one of the detectors, leading to separate and independent modulations of the signal and noise contribution to the cross-correlation. The met...
متن کاملMeasuring the non-Gaussian stochastic gravitational-wave background: A method for realistic interferometer data
A stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB) can arise from the superposition of many independent events. If the fraction of time that events emit in some frequency band is sufficiently high, the resulting background is Gaussian in that band, which is to say that it is characterized only by a gravitational-wave strain power spectrum. Alternatively, if this fraction is low, we expect a non-...
متن کاملThe gravitational wave ‘probability event horizon’ for double neutron star mergers
Gravitational waves generated by the final merger of double neutron star (DNS) binary systems are a key target for the gravitational wave (GW) interferometric detectors, such as LIGO, and the next generation detectors, Advanced LIGO. The cumulative GW signal from DNS mergers in interferometric data will manifest as ‘geometrical noise’: a non-continuous stochastic background with a unique statis...
متن کاملDirect searches for a cosmological stochastic gravitational wave background
LIGO has completed a series of observations searching for evidence of a stochastic gravitational wave background. There has been no detection to date. However the sensitivity of the observations is approaching the Big Bang nucleosynthesis bound. Future observations will provide information that bounds a number of early Universe models of stochastic gravitational waves.
متن کاملQuest for circular polarization of gravitational wave background and orbits of laser interferometers in space
We show that isotropic component of circular polarization of stochastic gravitational wave background can be explored by breaking two dimensional configuration of multiple laser interferometers for correlation analysis. By appropriately selecting orbital parameters for the proposed BBO mission, the circular polarization degree Π can be measured down to Π ∼ 0.08(ΩGW /10 )(SNR/5) with slightly (∼...
متن کامل