Toward gravitational wave detection

An overview of some tools and techniques being developed for data conditioning (regression of instrumental and environmental artifacts from the data channel), detector design evaluation (modeling the science “reach” of alternative detector designs and configurations), noise simulations for mock data challenges and analysis system validation, and analyses for the detection of gravitational radiation from gamma-ray burst sources. I DETECTOR CHARACTERIZATION Quality data analysis requires quality data. Part of the process of producing quality data is identifying and, as far as possible, removing instrumental and environmental artifacts. Here we illustrate, using data taken during November 1994 at the LIGO 40 M prototype, the identification and removal, through linear regression, of artifacts due to harmonics of the 60Hz power mains. A power spectrum (psd) of the LIGO 40 M IFO DMRO (interferometer differential-mode read-out; hereafter, “gravity-wave”) channel shows a series of narrow spectral features at 60 Hz and its harmonics. Similar narrow spectral features are evident in the magnetometer channel, IFO MAGX, which was recorded simultaneously with the gravity wave channel. Focus attention, in both the magnetometer and gravity-wave channel, on a narrow band about one of the harmonics. We suppose that, in this narrow band, the gravity wave channel h is related to the magnetometer channel M through an expression of the form