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arXiv · 1108.1521

Identification of long-duration noise transients in LIGO and Virgo

LIGO Scientific Collaboration·Virgo Collaboration·Michael W. Coughlin
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Abstract

The LIGO and Virgo detectors are sensitive to a variety of noise sources, such as instrumental artifacts and environmental disturbances. The Stochastic Transient Analysis Multi-detector Pipeline (STAMP) has been developed to search for long-duration (t$\gtrsim$1s) gravitational-wave (GW) signals. This pipeline can also be used to identify environmental noise transients. Here we present an algorithm to determine when long-duration noise sources couple into the interferometers, as well as identify what these noise sources are. We analyze the cross-power between a GW strain channel and an environmental sensor, using pattern recognition tools to identify statistically significant structure in cross-power time-frequency maps. We identify interferometer noise from airplanes, helicopters, thunderstorms and other sources. Examples from LIGO's sixth science run, S6, and Virgo's third scientific run, VSR3, are presented.

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LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration, Michael W. Coughlin. 2011-11-13. Identification of long-duration noise transients in LIGO and Virgo. https://doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381%2F28%2F23%2F235008

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