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Multimessenger Astronomy with Low-Latency Searches for Transient Gravitational Waves

Posted on:2012-06-12Degree:Ph.DType:Thesis
University:Columbia UniversityCandidate:Rollins, Jameson GraefFull Text:PDF
GTID:2460390011963506Subject:Physics
Abstract/Summary:
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Virgo Gravitational-wave Observatory have just completed the S6/VSR2 science run in which three long-baseline, geographically-separated detectors of similar sensitivity operated in coincidence. This new network of detectors allowed for the first time the reconstruction of the source location in the sky of candidate gravitational-wave events with unprecedented accuracy and precision. This new position-reconstruction capability further allowed for the possibility of observing electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational-wave events. This thesis describes the first gravitational-wave search to take advantage of these capabilities by analyzing the network data with very low- latency, reconstructing the source location of candidate events with a new coherent Bayesian algorithm, and sending this information to electromagnetic telescopes for follow-up observation.
Keywords/Search Tags:Gravitational-wave
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