Follow-up searches for persistent gravitational waves in O3 LIGO data using a hidden Markov model

Event Date:
2023-01-30T11:00:00
2023-01-30T12:00:00
Event Location:
Henn 318
Speaker:
Alan Knee, PhD Candidate, University of British Columbia
Related Upcoming Events:
Intended Audience:
Graduate
Local Contact:

Mervyn Chan (mervync@phas.ubc.ca)

**We welcome everyone to this event, from upper-level undergraduate students, post-docs and faculty to the general public. Come join us!**

Event Information:

TALK RECORDING AVAILABLE AThttps://drive.google.com/file/d/12vZ2TNlzaWh3DPdC90Q_vty9crJumDQ3/view?usp=share_link

Abstract:

Continuous waves (CWs) are an as-yet undiscovered class of gravitational waves, characterized as long-lived and nearly monochromatic signals. CWs are believed to be produced by rapidly spinning neutron stars, possibly due to tiny deformations on the neutron star crust (“mountains”), or due to unstable stellar oscillation modes such as r-modes. Present-day gravitational-wave detectors, including Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo, may be able to detect CWs from such sources located in our galaxy. CW searches must contend with several challenges, including significant computing requirements and difficulties in accurately modeling the sources of these waves. In this talk, I will discuss basic continuous-wave data analysis, with an emphasis on applying hidden Markov models (HMMs) and frequency tracking to CW searches. I will highlight a semi-coherent search pipeline which I and others have been working on, which leverages HMM techniques to perform follow-up of sub-threshold candidates identified by the LIGO All-Sky All-Frequency radiometer analysis, using LIGO data from the third observing run (O3).

Add to Calendar 2023-01-30T11:00:00 2023-01-30T12:00:00 Follow-up searches for persistent gravitational waves in O3 LIGO data using a hidden Markov model Event Information: TALK RECORDING AVAILABLE AT: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12vZ2TNlzaWh3DPdC90Q_vty9crJumDQ3/view?usp=share_link Abstract: Continuous waves (CWs) are an as-yet undiscovered class of gravitational waves, characterized as long-lived and nearly monochromatic signals. CWs are believed to be produced by rapidly spinning neutron stars, possibly due to tiny deformations on the neutron star crust (“mountains”), or due to unstable stellar oscillation modes such as r-modes. Present-day gravitational-wave detectors, including Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo, may be able to detect CWs from such sources located in our galaxy. CW searches must contend with several challenges, including significant computing requirements and difficulties in accurately modeling the sources of these waves. In this talk, I will discuss basic continuous-wave data analysis, with an emphasis on applying hidden Markov models (HMMs) and frequency tracking to CW searches. I will highlight a semi-coherent search pipeline which I and others have been working on, which leverages HMM techniques to perform follow-up of sub-threshold candidates identified by the LIGO All-Sky All-Frequency radiometer analysis, using LIGO data from the third observing run (O3). Event Location: Henn 318