arXiv subjects

K. Holley-Bockelmann

Publications and source records attributed to K. Holley-Bockelmann.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

LIGO Detector Characterization in the first half of the fourth Observing run

Progress in gravitational-wave astronomy depends upon having sensitive detectors with good data quality. Since the end of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA third Observing run in March 2020, detector-characterization efforts have lead to increased sensitivity of the detectors, swifter validation of gravitational-wave candidates and improved tools used for data-quality products. In this article, we discuss these efforts in detail and their impact on our ability to detect and study gravitational-waves. These include the multiple instrumental investigations that led to reduction in transient noise, along with the work to improve software tools used to examine the detectors data-quality. We end with a brief discussion on the role and requirements of detector characterization as the sensitivity of our detectors further improves in the future Observing runs.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

NANOGrav Education and Outreach: Growing a Diverse and Inclusive Collaboration for Low-Frequency Gravitational Wave Astronomy

The new field of gravitational wave astrophysics requires a growing pool of students and researchers with unique, interdisciplinary skill sets. It also offers an opportunity to build a diverse, inclusive astronomy community from the ground up. We describe the efforts used by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) NSF Physics Frontiers Center to foster such growth by involving students at all levels in low-frequency gravitational wave astrophysics with pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) and establishing collaboration policies that ensure broad participation by diverse groups. We describe and illustrate the impact of these techniques on our collaboration as a case study for other distributed collaborations.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

Opportunities for Multimessenger Astronomy in the 2020s

Electromagnetic observations of the sky have been the basis for our study of the Universe for millennia, cosmic ray studies are now entering their second century, the first neutrinos from an astrophysical source were identified three decades ago, and gravitational waves were directly detected only four years ago. Detections of these messengers are now common. Astrophysics will undergo a revolution in the 2020s as multimessenger detections become routine. The 8th Astro2020 Thematic Area is Multimessenger Astronomy and Astrophysics, which includes the identification of the sources of gravitational waves, astrophysical and cosmogenic neutrinos, cosmic rays, and gamma-rays, and the coordinated multimessenger and multiwavelength follow-ups. Identifying and characterizing multimessenger sources enables science throughout and beyond astrophysics. Success in the multimessenger era requires: (i) sensitive coverage of the non-electromagnetic messengers, (ii) full coverage of the electromagnetic spectrum, with either fast-response observations or broad and deep high-cadence surveys, and (iii) improved collaboration, communication, and notification platforms.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2006

Consequences of Disk Scale Height on LISA Confusion Noise from Close White Dwarf Binaries

Gravitational radiation from the Galactic population of close white dwarf binaries (CWDBs) is expected to produce a confusion-limited signal at the lower end of the sensitivity band of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). The canonical scale height of the disk population has been taken to be 90 pc for most studies of the nature of this confusion-limited signal. This estimate is probably too low, and the consequences of a more realistic scale height are investigated with a model of the LISA signal due to populations of close white dwarf binaries with different scale heights. If the local space density of CWDBs is held constant, increasing the scale height results in both an increase in the overall strength of the confusion-limited signal as well as in increase in the frequency at which the signals become individually resolvable. If the total number of binaries is held constant, increasing the scale height results in a reduction of the number of expected bright signals above the confusion-limited signal at low frequencies. We introduce an estimator for comparing this transition frequency that takes into account the signal spreading at higher frequencies.

astro-ph↗