Calibration of the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) Detectors – Madeline Wade

Date: Tue. March 22nd, 2016, 11:30 am-12:30 pm
Location: Rockefeller 221

Calibration is the critical link between the LIGO detectors and searches for gravitational-wave signals in LIGO data. The LIGO calibration effort involves constructing the external strain incident on each LIGO detector from the digitized readout of the LIGO photodetectors. The essential steps in calibration are the development of accurate models of the LIGO detectors, the digitization of these models, and the application of the calibration models to construct the external strain. The Advanced LIGO era has brought new complexities in accurately modeling the LIGO detectors as well as the challenge of producing calibrated external strain data in low-latency. This talk will give an overview of the Advanced LIGO calibration procedure, the low-latency pipeline currently in use, and results for the uncertainty in the external strain construction during the beginning of LIGO’s first observing run and during the binary black hole merger GW150914.