2017-2018 Faculty Research Grants
Tiffany Summerscales (Physics)
Estimating the Parameters of Gravitational Waves Using BayesWave
Gravitational waves were first detected by the instruments of Advanced LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) on September 14, 2015. A second detection was made on December 26, 2015. With these observations, the new science of gravitational wave astronomy has begun. In order for these gravitational wave observations to have maximum scientific impact, the properties of the gravitational waves must be inferred from the data. BayesWave is a data analysis pipeline that uses Bayesian statistics to estimate gravitational wave parameters such as sky location and frequency content. The Andrews LIGO research group has joined the effort to characterize, test and improve the BayesWave pipeline so that it is ready to be used to analyze Advanced LIGO detections.