Calibration of the Advanced LIGO Interferometers

Madeline Wade (Kenyon College)

January 11, 2016

–

Abstract: Calibration is the critical link between the LIGO detectors and the searches for gravitational-wave signals in LIGO data. The Advanced LIGO (aLIGO) 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 aLIGO era has brought new complexities in accurately modeling the LIGO detectors as well as the challenge of producing calibrated external strain in low-latency. This talk will give an overview of the aLIGO calibration procedure, the low-latency pipeline currently in use, and preliminary results for the uncertainty in the external strain construction during aLIGO’s first observing run.