Fact Checking LIGO's Radiometer Code with Simulated LIGO Data

Fact Checking LIGO's Radiometer Code with Simulated LIGO Data

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Thrush, Samantha Elaine
Language:English
Published: Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK 2015
Subjects:
Astrophysics
Astronomy
Physics
LIGO
radiometer code
stochastic
gravitational waves
Online Access:http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1428923532
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spelling ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ouhonors14289235322021-08-03T06:30:02Z Fact Checking LIGO's Radiometer Code with Simulated LIGO Data Thrush, Samantha Elaine Astrophysics Astronomy Physics LIGO radiometer code stochastic gravitational waves Gravitational waves are predicted by general relativity to be emitted from very massive and fast-moving objects, ranging from cosmological sources to astrophysical objects. Two examples of such objects that pertain to this project are a neutron star in a binary system, such as Scorpius X-1, or black holes in a binary system. A key set of instruments that are used to search for gravitational waves are the LIGO detectors, which utilize interferometry in order to observe gravitational wave signals. As the signal strength is expected to be small relative to the background noise from a single LIGO detector, data from two detectors are cross-correlated to increase sensitivity to any potential gravitational waves. In order to test the effectiveness of the cross-correlation 'radiometer' code in detecting point sources similar to Scorpius X-1 near frequency bin borders, the code was modified to have the capability to add multiple simulated pulsar signals. To check that the changes to the radiometer code did not adversely affect the results reached by the code, two trials were run. The first trial, the Troubleshooting Trial, read in real LIGO data through the traditional means and explored the effects of adding simulated data via the modified code. The graphs from this trial were then graded on three criteria to ascertain if the modified code worked as expected and did not introduce error. Once the modified code completed its vetting, a second trial, the Bin Shifting Trial, was used to ascertain how well injected signals can be recovered when they fall on the border between frequency bins. Through a series of seven tests, simulated signals were created with peak frequencies ranging from being on a bin border to half a bin border away, where the bin sizing was 0.25 Hz. Uniform attenuation was expected on the trial with frequencies on the bin border, and the trial with the signals located between two bin borders was expected to have the smallest attenuation. These tests revealed anomalous attenuation for three of the signals in all cases in the bin shift trial, with normal attenuation occurring in the rest of the simulated signals. Two of these anomalously attenuated signals seemed to be created by a peak masking routine found in stochastic.m, while the other anomalous peaks are currently unaccounted for. In addition, both trials experienced abnormal attenuation at times, which needs to be further investigated. In order to have a greater understanding of the data’s behavior, there needs to be further exploration of the codes at hand with more thorough testing with smaller frequency shifting of signals, as well as additional tests that test more signal frequencies around the strangely attenuated signals. 2015-04-23 English text Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1428923532 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1428923532 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection NDLTD
language English
sources NDLTD
topic Astrophysics
Astronomy
Physics
LIGO
radiometer code
stochastic
gravitational waves
spellingShingle Astrophysics
Astronomy
Physics
LIGO
radiometer code
stochastic
gravitational waves
Thrush, Samantha Elaine
Fact Checking LIGO's Radiometer Code with Simulated LIGO Data
author Thrush, Samantha Elaine
author_facet Thrush, Samantha Elaine
author_sort Thrush, Samantha Elaine
title Fact Checking LIGO's Radiometer Code with Simulated LIGO Data
title_short Fact Checking LIGO's Radiometer Code with Simulated LIGO Data
title_full Fact Checking LIGO's Radiometer Code with Simulated LIGO Data
title_fullStr Fact Checking LIGO's Radiometer Code with Simulated LIGO Data
title_full_unstemmed Fact Checking LIGO's Radiometer Code with Simulated LIGO Data
title_sort fact checking ligo's radiometer code with simulated ligo data
publisher Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK
publishDate 2015
url http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1428923532
work_keys_str_mv AT thrushsamanthaelaine factcheckingligosradiometercodewithsimulatedligodata
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