Effects of transients in LIGO suspensions on searches for gravitational waves

Walker, M. et al. (2017) Effects of transients in LIGO suspensions on searches for gravitational waves. Review of Scientific Instruments, 88(12), 124501. (doi: 10.1063/1.5000264) (PMID:29289175)

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the transient behavior of the Advanced LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) suspensions used to seismically isolate the optics. We have characterized the transients in the longitudinal motion of the quadruple suspensions during Advanced LIGO’s first observing run. Propagation of transients between stages is consistent with modeled transfer functions, such that transient motion originating at the top of the suspension chain is significantly reduced in amplitude at the test mass. We find that there are transients seen by the longitudinal motion monitors of quadruple suspensions, but they are not significantly correlated with transient motion above the noise floor in the gravitational wave strain data, and therefore do not present a dominant source of background noise in the searches for transient gravitational wave signals. Using the suspension transfer functions, we compared the transients in a week of gravitational wave strain data with transients from a quadruple suspension. Of the strain transients between 10 and 60 Hz, 84% are loud enough that they would have appeared above the sensor noise in the top stage quadruple suspension monitors if they had originated at that stage at the same frequencies. We find no significant temporal correlation with the suspension transients in that stage, so we can rule out suspension motion originating at the top stage as the cause of those transients. However, only 3.2% of the gravitational wave strain transients are loud enough that they would have been seen by the second stage suspension sensors, and none of them are above the sensor noise levels of the penultimate stage. Therefore, we cannot eliminate the possibility of transient noise in the detectors originating in the intermediate stages of the suspension below the sensing noise.

• Item Type: Articles
• Keywords: Instrumentation
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Rowan, Professor Sheila and Bell, Dr Angus and Martin, Dr Iain and Robertson, Professor Norna and Hammond, Professor Giles and Barr, Dr Bryan and Sorazu Lucio, Dr Borja and Cumming, Dr Alan and Cunningham, Dr Liam and Hennig, Ms Margot and van Veggel, Dr Marielle and Hough, Professor James and Strain, Professor Kenneth and Jones, Mr Russell
• Authors: Walker, M., Abbott, T. D., Aston, S. M., González, G., Macleod, D. M., McIver, J., Abbott, B. P., Abbott, R., Adams, C., Adhikari, R. X., Anderson, S. B., Ananyeva, A., Appert, S., Arai, K., Ballmer, S. W., Barker, D., Barr, B., Barsotti, L., Bartlett, J., Bartos, I., Batch, J. C., Bell, A. S., Betzwieser, J., Billingsley, G., Birch, J., Biscans, S., Biwer, C., Blair, C. D., Bork, R., Brooks, A. F., Ciani, G., Clara, F., Countryman, S. T., Cowart, M. J., Coyne, D. C., Cumming, A., Cunningham, L., Danzmann, K., Da Silva Costa, C. F., Daw, E. J., DeBra, D., DeRosa, R. T., DeSalvo, R., Dooley, K. L., Doravari, S., Driggers, J. C., Dwyer, S. E., Effler, A., Etzel, T., Evans, M., Evans, T. M., Factourovich, M., Fair, H., Fernández Galiana, A., Fisher, R. P., Fritschel, P., Frolov, V. V., Fulda, P., Fyffe, M., Giaime, J. A., Giardina, K. D., Goetz, E., Goetz, R., Gras, S., Gray, C., Grote, H., Gushwa, K. E., Gustafson, E. K., Gustafson, R., Hall, E. D., Hammond, G., Hanks, J., Hanson, J., Hardwick, T., Harry, G. M., Heintze, M. C., Heptonstall, A. W., Hough, J., Izumi, K., Jones, R., Kandhasamy, S., Karki, S., Kasprzack, M., Kaufer, S., Kawabe, K., Kijbunchoo, N., King, E. J., King, P. J., Kissel, J. S., Korth, W. Z., Kuehn, G., Landry, M., Lantz, B., Lockerbie, N. A., Lormand, M., Lundgren, A. P., MacInnis, M., Márka, S., Márka, Z., Markosyan, A. S., Maros, E., Martin, I. W., Martynov, D. V., Mason, K., Massinger, T. J., Matichard, F., Mavalvala, N., McCarthy, R., McClelland, D. E., McCormick, S., McIntyre, G., Mendell, G., Merilh, E. L., Meyers, P. M., Miller, J., Mittleman, R., Moreno, G., Mueller, G., Mullavey, A., Munch, J., Nuttall, L. K., Oberling, J., Oliver, M., Oppermann, P., Oram, R. J., O’Reilly, B., Ottaway, D. J., Overmier, H., Palamos, J. R., Paris, H. R., Parker, W., Pele, A., Penn, S., Phelps, M., Pierro, V., Pinto, I., Principe, M., Prokhorov, L. G., Puncken, O., Quetschke, V., Quintero, E. A., Raab, F. J., Radkins, H., Raffai, P., Reid, S., Reitze, D. H., Robertson, N. A., Rollins, J. G., Roma, V. J., Romie, J. H., Rowan, S., Ryan, K., Sadecki, T., Sanchez, E. J., Sandberg, V., Savage, R. L., Schofield, R. M. S., Sellers, D., Shaddock, D. A., Shaffer, T. J., Shapiro, B., Shawhan, P., Shoemaker, D. H., Sigg, D., Slagmolen, B. J. J., Smith, B., Smith, J. R., Sorazu, B., Staley, A., Strain, K. A., Tanner, D. B., Taylor, R., Thomas, M., Thomas, P., Thorne, K. A., Thrane, E., Torrie, C. I., Traylor, G., Tuyenbayev, D., Vajente, G., Valdes, G., van Veggel, A. A., Vecchio, A., Veitch, P. J., Venkateswara, K., Vo, T., Vorvick, C., Ward, R. L., Warner, J., Weaver, B., Weiss, R., Weßels, P., Willke, B., Wipf, C. C., Worden, J., Wu, G., Yamamoto, H., Yancey, C. C., Yu, H., Yu, H., Zhang, L., Zucker, M. E., and Zweizig, J.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Research Centre: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy > Institute for Gravitational Research
• Journal Name: Review of Scientific Instruments
• Publisher: AIP Publishing
• ISSN: 0034-6748
• ISSN (Online): 1089-7623
• Published Online: 01 December 2017
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2017 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Review of Scientific Instruments 88(12):124501
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher