LIGO Detector Characterization and Supernova Data Analysis

LIGO and its sibling collaborations continue to push forward the young field of gravitational wave astronomy in the fourth observing run and beyond. This grant focuses on Embry-Riddle's continued contributions to two facets of LIGO science. The first is detector characterization, which involves efforts to understand and mitigate the effects of Earth-based noise on the interferometer in order to detect gravitational waves with better clarity. Detector characterization efforts involve both near-real time analysis of data enabling time-sensitive follow-ups of signals with optical telescopes and mitigation of noise in archival searches on longer timescales. The second is the search for gravitational waves from core-collapse supernovae, a promising source of gravitational wave emission beyond binary coalescences. Embry-Riddle is well positioned to advance the training of the next generation of scientists due to its focus on undergraduate education with close faculty-student interaction. Embry-Riddle's location, serving rural north-central Arizona and in close proximity to the Navajo nation, helps attract first-generation college students. The search for gravitational waves is complicated by the presence of terrestrial background, resulting from environmental disturbances and behavior of the interferometers themselves. Understanding these disturbances and removing them from interferometric data through detector characterization activities is critical in conducting sensitive searches for gravitational waves. The PI recently completed his term as a co-chair of LIGO's detector characterization group, and continues to contribute to that group's noise mitigation efforts, including vetting potential events in near real-time as a member of the rapid response team enabling multimessenger follow-ups of gravitational wave signals. Core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) are an exciting target for multi-messenger astronomy. Given the rate of about two CCSNe per century in our galaxy, the signatures of the next Galactic CCSN are already traveling toward us. The reconstruction of a gravitational wave from a CCSN would address a number of open questions in astrophysics, including the mechanism of the explosion itself as well as fundamental questions about neutrino interactions and the neutron star equation of state. In the next few years, the improved sensitivity of Advanced LIGO combined with more sophisticated algorithms for detection and parameter estimation of supernova signals will greatly enhance LIGO's opportunities for exploring supernova astrophysics. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.