Do glitches in gravitational-wave data affect our ability to estimate the correct sky localization?

Abstract

Gravitational-wave (GW) data contains non-Gaussian noise artifacts called ‘glitches’. These glitches can sometimes overlap with a GW signal and thus affect parameter estimation of a GW source. Such bias is especially important in low latency where sky localization, among other parameters, is used for electromagnetic follow-up. In this talk, I will present a study that estimates how much sky localization is affected by a nearby glitch in low latency. I will show results for a range of GW signals, such as binary black hole GW150914 and binary neutron star GW170817, for different glitch classes that are typically found in LIGO and Virgo, and are expected to be present in the future observing runs.

Ronaldas Macas

Data Scientist

Applying my experience in gravitational-wave astronomy and machine learning to data science problems.