Separating Gravitational Wave Signals from Instrument Artifacts

Understand

Central to the gravitational wave detection problem is the challenge of separating features in the data produced by astrophysical sources from features produced by the detector.

• Matched filtering provides an optimal solution for Gaussian noise, but in practice, transient noise excursions or ``glitches'' complicate the analysis.
• Detector diagnostics and coincidence tests can be used to veto many glitches which may otherwise be misinterpreted as gravitational wave signals.
• The glitches that remain can lead to long tails in the matched filter search statistics and drive up the detection threshold.