Gravitational Wave Burst Source Direction Estimation using Time and Amplitude Information

Understand

In this article we study two problems that arise when using timing and amplitude estimates from a network of interferometers (IFOs) to evaluate the direction of an incident gravitational wave burst (GWB).

• First, we discuss an angular bias in the least squares timing-based approach that becomes increasingly relevant for moderate to low signal-to-noise ratios.
• We show how estimates of the arrival time uncertainties in each detector can be used to correct this bias.
• We also introduce a stand alone parameter estimation algorithm that can improve the arrival time estimation and provide root-sum-squared strain amplitude (hrss) values for each site.