Identifying the next exceptional gravitational-wave event and solving the challenges of working with real detector data

Abstract

The detection of gravitational waves requires both highly sensitive detectors and careful procedures to analyze the recorded data. As detection of gravitational-wave events becomes an everyday occurrence, many of the recent advances in gravitational-wave astronomy have been driven by single, exceptional events that allow us to probe extreme spacetimes in new and exciting ways. This includes signals with electromagnetic counterparts, signals that challenge our understanding of how compact objects form, and signals from unexpected sources. In this talk, I will explain how these types of gravitational-wave events are identified and how artifacts in real gravitational-wave data impact the astrophysical conclusions that we can draw from these signals. I will also discuss my ongoing research to rapidly and accurately validate identified gravitational-wave events and how to better disentangle exciting new physics from typical detector noise.