arXiv subjects

R. McCarthy

Publications and source records attributed to R. McCarthy.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

Environmental Noise in Advanced LIGO Detectors

The sensitivity of the Advanced LIGO detectors to gravitational waves can be affected by environmental disturbances external to the detectors themselves. Since the transition from the former initial LIGO phase, many improvements have been made to the equipment and techniques used to investigate these environmental effects. These methods have aided in tracking down and mitigating noise sources throughout the first three observing runs of the advanced detector era, keeping the ambient contribution of environmental noise below the background noise levels of the detectors. In this paper we describe the methods used and how they have led to the mitigation of noise sources, the role that environmental monitoring has played in the validation of gravitational wave events, and plans for future observing runs.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2018

Identification and mitigation of narrow spectral artifacts that degrade searches for persistent gravitational waves in the first two observing runs of Advanced LIGO

Searches are under way in Advanced LIGO and Virgo data for persistent gravitational waves from continuous sources, e.g. rapidly rotating galactic neutron stars, and stochastic sources, e.g. relic gravitational waves from the Big Bang or superposition of distant astrophysical events such as mergers of black holes or neutron stars. These searches can be degraded by the presence of narrow spectral artifacts (lines) due to instrumental or environmental disturbances. We describe a variety of methods used for finding, identifying and mitigating these artifacts, illustrated with particular examples. Results are provided in the form of lists of line artifacts that can safely be treated as non-astrophysical. Such lists are used to improve the efficiencies and sensitivities of continuous and stochastic gravitational wave searches by allowing vetoes of false outliers and permitting data cleaning.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2015

Towards an Understanding of the Correlations in Jet Substructure

Over the past decade, a large number of jet substructure observables have been proposed in the literature, and explored at the LHC experiments. Such observables attempt to utilize the internal structure of jets in order to distinguish those initiated by quarks, gluons, or by boosted heavy objects, such as top quarks and W bosons. This report, originating from and motivated by the BOOST2013 workshop, presents original particle-level studies that aim to improve our understanding of the relationships between jet substructure observables, their complementarity, and their dependence on the underlying jet properties, particularly the jet radius and jet transverse momentum. This is explored in the context of quark/gluon discrimination, boosted W boson tagging and boosted top quark tagging.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Environmental Influences on the LIGO Gravitational Wave Detectors during the 6th Science Run

We describe the influence of environmental noise on LIGO detectors in the sixth science run (S6), from July 2009 to October 2010. We show results from experimental investigations testing the coupling level and mechanisms for acoustic, electromagnetic/magnetic and seismic noise to the instruments. We argument the sensors' importance for vetoes of false positive detections, report estimates of the noise sources' contributions to the detector background, and discuss the ways in which environmental coupling should be reduced in the LIGO upgrade, Advanced LIGO.

astro-ph.IM↗