Calibration of the Advanced LIGO detectors for the discovery of the binary black-hole merger GW150914
B. P. Abbott1, R. Abbott1, T. D. Abbott2, M. R. Abernathy1, K. Ackley3, C. Adams4, P. Addesso5, R. X. Adhikari1, V. B. Adya6 et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration*)
V. B. Adya6, C. Affeldt6, N. Aggarwal7, O. D. Aguiar8, A. Ain9, P. Ajith10, B. Allen6,11,12, P. A. Altin13, D. V. Amariutei3, S. B. Anderson1, W. G. Anderson11, K. Arai1, M. C. Araya1, C. C. Arceneaux14, J. S. Areeda15, K. G. Arun16, G. Ashton17, M. Ast18, S. M. Aston4, P. Aufmuth12, C. Aulbert6, S. Babak19, P. T. Baker20, S. W. Ballmer21, J. C. Barayoga1, S. E. Barclay22, B. C. Barish1, D. Barker23, B. Barr22, L. Barsotti7, J. Bartlett23, I. Bartos24, R. Bassiri25, J. C. Batch23, C. Baune6, B. Behnke19, A. S. Bell22, C. J. Bell22, B. K. Berger1, J. Bergman23, G. Bergmann6, C. P. L. Berry26, J. Betzwieser4, S. Bhagwat21, R. Bhandare27, I. A. Bilenko28, G. Billingsley1, J. Birch4, I. A. Birney29, S. Biscans7, A. Bisht6,12, C. Biwer21, J. K. Blackburn1, C. D. Blair30, D. Blair30, R. M. Blair23, O. Bock6, T. P. Bodiya7, C. Bogan6, A. Bohe19, P. Bojtos31, C. Bond26, R. Bork1, S. Bose32,9, P. R. Brady11, V. B. Braginsky28, J. E. Brau33, M. Brinkmann6, P. Brockill11, A. F. Brooks1, D. A. Brown21, D. D. Brown26, N. M. Brown7, C. C. Buchanan2, A. Buikema7, A. Buonanno19,34, R. L. Byer25, L. Cadonati35, C. Cahillane1, J. Calderón Bustillo36,35, T. Callister1, J. B. Camp37, K. C. Cannon38, J. Cao39, C. D. Capano6, S. Caride40, S. Caudill11, M. Cavaglià14, C. Cepeda1, R. Chakraborty1, T. Chalermsongsak1, S. J. Chamberlin11, M. Chan22, S. Chao41, P. Charlton42, H. Y. Chen43, Y. Chen44, C. Cheng41, H. S. Cho45, M. Cho34, J. H. Chow13, N. Christensen46, Q. Chu30, S. Chung30, G. Ciani3, F. Clara23, J. A. Clark35, C. G. Collette47, L. Cominsky48, M. Constancio, Jr.8, D. Cook23, T. R. Corbitt2, N. Cornish20, A. Corsi49, C. A. Costa8, M. W. Coughlin46, S. B. Coughlin50, S. T. Countryman24, P. Couvares1, D. M. Coward30, M. J. Cowart4, D. C. Coyne1, R. Coyne49, K. Craig22, J. D. E. Creighton11, J. Cripe2, S. G. Crowder51, A. Cumming22, L. Cunningham22, T. Dal Canton6, S. L. Danilishin22, K. Danzmann12,6, N. S. Darman52, I. Dave27, H. P. Daveloza53, G. S. Davies22, E. J. Daw54, D. DeBra25, W. Del Pozzo26, T. Denker6,12, T. Dent6, V. Dergachev1, R. DeRosa4, R. DeSalvo5, S. Dhurandhar9, M. C. Díaz53, I. Di Palma19,6, G. Dojcinoski55, F. Donovan7, K. L. Dooley14, S. Doravari4, R. Douglas22, T. P. Downes11, M. Drago6, R. W. P. Drever1, J. C. Driggers23, Z. Du39, S. E. Dwyer23, T. B. Edo54, M. C. Edwards46, A. Effler4, H.-B. Eggenstein6, P. Ehrens1, J. Eichholz3, S. S. Eikenberry3, W. Engels44, R. C. Essick7, T. Etzel1, M. Evans7, T. M. Evans4, R. Everett56, M. Factourovich24, H. Fair21, S. Fairhurst50, X. Fan39, Q. Fang30, B. Farr43, W. M. Farr26, M. Favata55, M. Fays50, H. Fehrmann6, M. M. Fejer25, E. C. Ferreira8, R. P. Fisher21, M. Fletcher22, Z. Frei31, A. Freise26, R. Frey33, T. T. Fricke6, P. Fritschel7, V. V. Frolov4, P. Fulda3, M. Fyffe4, H. A. G. Gabbard14, J. R. Gair57, S. G. Gaonkar9, G. Gaur58,59, N. Gehrels37, J. George27, L. Gergely60, A. Ghosh10, J. A. Giaime2,4, K. D. Giardina4, K. Gill61, A. Glaefke22, E. Goetz40, R. Goetz3, L. Gondan31, G. González2, A. Gopakumar62, N. A. Gordon22, M. L. Gorodetsky28, S. E. Gossan1, C. Graef22, P. B. Graff37,34, A. Grant22, S. Gras7, C. Gray23, A. C. Green26, H. Grote6, S. Grunewald19, X. Guo39, A. Gupta9, M. K. Gupta59, K. E. Gushwa1, E. K. Gustafson1, R. Gustafson40, J. J. Hacker15, B. R. Hall32, E. D. Hall1, G. Hammond22, M. Haney62, M. M. Hanke6, J. Hanks23, C. Hanna56, M. D. Hannam50, J. Hanson4, T. Hardwick2, G. M. Harry63, I. W. Harry19, M. J. Hart22, M. T. Hartman3, C.-J. Haster26, K. Haughian22, M. C. Heintze3,4, M. Hendry22, I. S. Heng22, J. Hennig22, A. W. Heptonstall1, M. Heurs6,12, S. Hild22, D. Hoak64, K. A. Hodge1, S. E. Hollitt65, K. Holt4, D. E. Holz43, P. Hopkins50, D. J. Hosken65, J. Hough22, E. A. Houston22, E. J. Howell30, Y. M. Hu22, S. Huang41, E. A. Huerta66, B. Hughey61, S. Husa36, S. H. Huttner22, T. Huynh-Dinh4, A. Idrisy56, N. Indik6, D. R. Ingram23, R. Inta49, H. N. Isa22, M. Isi1, G. Islas15, T. Isogai7, B. R. Iyer10, K. Izumi23, H. Jang45, K. Jani35, S. Jawahar67, F. Jiménez-Forteza36, W. W. Johnson2, D. I. Jones17, R. Jones22, L. Ju30, Haris K.68, C. V. Kalaghatgi16, V. Kalogera69, S. Kandhasamy14, G. Kang45, J. B. Kanner1, S. Karki33, M. Kasprzack2, E. Katsavounidis7, W. Katzman4, S. Kaufer12, T. Kaur30, K. Kawabe23, F. Kawazoe6, M. S. Kehl38, D. Keitel6, D. B. Kelley21, W. Kells1, R. Kennedy54, J. S. Key53, A. Khalaidovski6, F. Y. Khalili28, S. Khan50, Z. Khan59, E. A. Khazanov70, N. Kijbunchoo23, C. Kim45, J. Kim71, K. Kim72, N. Kim45, N. Kim25, Y.-M. Kim71, E. J. King65, P. J. King23, D. L. Kinzel4, J. S. Kissel23, L. Kleybolte18, S. Klimenko3, S. M. Koehlenbeck6, K. Kokeyama2, V. Kondrashov1, A. Kontos7, M. Korobko18, W. Z. Korth1, D. B. Kozak1, V. Kringel6, C. Krueger12, G. Kuehn6, P. Kumar38, L. Kuo41, B. D. Lackey21, M. Landry23, J. Lange73, B. Lantz25, P. D. Lasky74, A. Lazzarini1, C. Lazzaro35, P. Leaci19, S. Leavey22, E. O. Lebigot39, C. H. Lee71, H. K. Lee72, H. M. Lee75, K. Lee22, A. Lenon21, J. R. Leong6, Y. Levin74, B. M. Levine23, T. G. F. Li1, A. Libson7, T. B. Littenberg76, N. A. Lockerbie67, J. Logue22, A. L. Lombardi64, J. E. Lord21, M. Lormand4, J. D. Lough6,12, H. Lück12,6, A. P. Lundgren6, J. Luo46, R. Lynch7, Y. Ma30, T. MacDonald25, B. Machenschalk6, M. MacInnis7, D. M. Macleod2, F. Magaña-Sandoval21, R. M. Magee32, M. Mageswaran1, I. Mandel26, V. Mandic51, V. Mangano22, G. L. Mansell13, M. Manske11, S. Márka24, Z. Márka24, A. S. Markosyan25, E. Maros1, I. W. Martin22, R. M. Martin3, D. V. Martynov1, J. N. Marx1, K. Mason7, T. J. Massinger21, M. Masso-Reid22, F. Matichard7, L. Matone24, N. Mavalvala7, N. Mazumder32, G. Mazzolo6, R. McCarthy23, D. E. McClelland13, S. McCormick4, S. C. McGuire77, G. McIntyre1, J. McIver64, D. J. McManus13, S. T. McWilliams66, G. D. Meadors19,6, A. Melatos52, G. Mendell23, D. Mendoza-Gandara6, R. A. Mercer11, E. Merilh23, S. Meshkov1, C. Messenger22, C. Messick56, P. M. Meyers51, H. Miao26, H. Middleton26, E. E. Mikhailov78, K. N. Mukund9, J. Miller7, M. Millhouse20, J. Ming19,6, S. Mirshekari79, C. Mishra10, S. Mitra9, V. P. Mitrofanov28, G. Mitselmakher3, R. Mittleman7, S. R. P. Mohapatra7, B. C. Moore55, C. J. Moore80, D. Moraru23, G. Moreno23, S. R. Morriss53, K. Mossavi6, C. M. Mow-Lowry26, C. L. Mueller3, G. Mueller3, A. W. Muir50, Arunava Mukherjee10, D. Mukherjee11, S. Mukherjee53, A. Mullavey4, J. Munch65, D. J. Murphy24, P. G. Murray22, A. Mytidis3, R. K. Nayak81, V. Necula3, K. Nedkova64, A. Neunzert40, G. Newton22, T. T. Nguyen13, A. B. Nielsen6, A. Nitz6, D. Nolting4, M. E. N. Normandin53, L. K. Nuttall21, J. Oberling23, E. Ochsner11, J. O’Dell82, E. Oelker7, G. H. Ogin83, J. J. Oh84, S. H. Oh84, F. Ohme50, M. Oliver36, P. Oppermann6, Richard J. Oram4, B. O’Reilly4, R. O’Shaughnessy73, C. D. Ott44, D. J. Ottaway65, R. S. Ottens3, H. Overmier4, B. J. Owen49, A. Pai68, S. A. Pai27, J. R. Palamos33, O. Palashov70, A. Pal-Singh18, H. Pan41, C. Pankow11,69, F. Pannarale50, B. C. Pant27, M. A. Papa19,11,6, H. R. Paris25, W. Parker4, D. Pascucci22, Z. Patrick25, B. L. Pearlstone22, M. Pedraza1, L. Pekowsky21, A. Pele4, S. Penn85, R. Pereira24, A. Perreca1, M. Phelps22, V. Pierro5, I. M. Pinto5, M. Pitkin22, A. Post6, J. Powell22, J. Prasad9, V. Predoi50, S. S. Premachandra74, T. Prestegard51, L. R. Price1, M. Principe5, S. Privitera19, L. Prokhorov28, O. Puncken6, M. Pürrer50, H. Qi11, J. Qin30, V. Quetschke53, E. A. Quintero1, R. Quitzow-James33, F. J. Raab23, D. S. Rabeling13, H. Radkins23, P. Raffai31, S. Raja27, M. Rakhmanov53, V. Raymond19, J. Read15, C. M. Reed23, S. Reid29, D. H. Reitze1,3, H. Rew78, K. Riles40, N. A. Robertson1,22, R. Robie22, J. G. Rollins1, V. J. Roma33, G. Romanov78, J. H. Romie4, S. Rowan22, A. Rüdiger6, K. Ryan23, S. Sachdev1, T. Sadecki23, L. Sadeghian11, M. Saleem68, F. Salemi6, A. Samajdar81, L. Sammut52,74, E. J. Sanchez1, V. Sandberg23, B. Sandeen69, J. R. Sanders40, B. S. Sathyaprakash50, P. R. Saulson21, O. Sauter40, R. L. Savage23, A. Sawadsky12, P. Schale33, R. Schilling6,†, J. Schmidt6, P. Schmidt1,44, R. Schnabel18, R. M. S. Schofield33, A. Schönbeck18, E. Schreiber6, D. Schuette6,12, B. F. Schutz50, J. Scott22, S. M. Scott13, D. Sellers4, A. Sergeev70, G. Serna15, A. Sevigny23, D. A. Shaddock13, M. S. Shahriar69, M. Shaltev6, Z. Shao1, B. Shapiro25, P. Shawhan34, A. Sheperd11, D. H. Shoemaker7, D. M. Shoemaker35, X. Siemens11, D. Sigg23, A. D. Silva8, D. Simakov6, A. Singer1, L. P. Singer37, A. Singh19,6, R. Singh2, A. M. Sintes36, B. J. J. Slagmolen13, J. R. Smith15, N. D. Smith1, R. J. E. Smith1, E. J. Son84, B. Sorazu22, T. Souradeep9, A. K. Srivastava59, A. Staley24, M. Steinke6, J. Steinlechner22, S. Steinlechner22, D. Steinmeyer6,12, B. C. Stephens11, R. Stone53, K. A. Strain22, N. A. Strauss46, S. Strigin28, R. Sturani79, A. L. Stuver4, T. Z. Summerscales86, L. Sun52, P. J. Sutton50, M. J. Szczepańczyk61, D. Talukder33, D. B. Tanner3, M. Tápai60, S. P. Tarabrin6, A. Taracchini19, R. Taylor1, T. Theeg6, M. P. Thirugnanasambandam1, E. G. Thomas26, M. Thomas4, P. Thomas23, K. A. Thorne4, K. S. Thorne44, E. Thrane74, V. Tiwari50, K. V. Tokmakov67, C. Tomlinson54, C. V. Torres53,†, C. I. Torrie1, D. Töyrä26, G. Traylor4, D. Trifirò14, M. Tse7, D. Tuyenbayev53, D. Ugolini87, C. S. Unnikrishnan62, A. L. Urban11, S. A. Usman21, H. Vahlbruch12, G. Vajente1, G. Valdes53, D. C. Vander-Hyde21,15, A. A. van Veggel22, S. Vass1, R. Vaulin7, A. Vecchio26, J. Veitch26, P. J. Veitch65, K. Venkateswara88, S. Vinciguerra26, D. J. Vine29, S. Vitale7, T. Vo21, C. Vorvick23, W. D. Vousden26, S. P. Vyatchanin28, A. R. Wade13, L. E. Wade89, M. Wade89, M. Walker2, L. Wallace1, S. Walsh11, H. Wang26, M. Wang26, X. Wang39, Y. Wang30, R. L. Ward13, J. Warner23, B. Weaver23, M. Weinert6, A. J. Weinstein1, R. Weiss7, T. Welborn4, L. Wen30, P. Weßels6, T. Westphal6, K. Wette6, J. T. Whelan73,6, D. J. White54, B. F. Whiting3, R. D. Williams1, A. R. Williamson50, J. L. Willis90, B. Willke12,6, M. H. Wimmer6,12, W. Winkler6, C. C. Wipf1, H. Wittel6,12, G. Woan22, J. Worden23, J. L. Wright22, G. Wu4, J. Yablon69, W. Yam7, H. Yamamoto1, C. C. Yancey34, M. J. Yap13, H. Yu7, M. Zanolin61, M. Zevin69, F. Zhang7, L. Zhang1, M. Zhang78, Y. Zhang73, C. Zhao30, M. Zhou69, Z. Zhou69, X. J. Zhu30, M. E. Zucker1,7, S. E. Zuraw64, and J. Zweizig1 (LIGO Scientific Collaboration*)
- 1LIGO, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
- 2Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA
- 3University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA
- 4LIGO Livingston Observatory, Livingston, Louisiana 70754, USA
- 5University of Sannio at Benevento, I-82100 Benevento, Italy and INFN, Sezione di Napoli, I-80100 Napoli, Italy
- 6Albert-Einstein-Institut, Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, D-30167 Hannover, Germany
- 7LIGO, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
- 8Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, 12227-010 São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil
- 9Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune 411007, India
- 10International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore 560012, India
- 11University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201, USA
- 12Leibniz Universität Hannover, D-30167 Hannover, Germany
- 13Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia
- 14The University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi 38677, USA
- 15California State University Fullerton, Fullerton, California 92831, USA
- 16Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 603103, India
- 17University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom
- 18Universität Hamburg, D-22761 Hamburg, Germany
- 19Albert-Einstein-Institut, Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
- 20Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA
- 21Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA
- 22SUPA, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, United Kingdom
- 23LIGO Hanford Observatory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA
- 24Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA
- 25Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
- 26University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom
- 27RRCAT, Indore, Madhya Pradesh 452013, India
- 28Faculty of Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 119991, Russia
- 29SUPA, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley PA1 2BE, United Kingdom
- 30University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia
- 31MTA Eötvös University, “Lendulet” Astrophysics Research Group, Budapest 1117, Hungary
- 32Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164, USA
- 33University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA
- 34University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
- 35Center for Relativistic Astrophysics and School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
- 36Universitat de les Illes Balears, IAC3—IEEC, E-07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
- 37NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA
- 38Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H8, Canada
- 39Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
- 40University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
- 41National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu City, Taiwan 30013, Republic of China
- 42Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678, Australia
- 43University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
- 44Caltech CaRT, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
- 45Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, Daejeon 305-806, Korea
- 46Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota 55057, USA
- 47University of Brussels, Brussels 1050, Belgium
- 48Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California 94928, USA
- 49Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409, USA
- 50Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, United Kingdom
- 51University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
- 52The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
- 53The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, Texas 78520, USA
- 54The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom
- 55Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey 07043, USA
- 56The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
- 57School of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, United Kingdom
- 58Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar Ahmedabad Gujarat 382424, India
- 59Institute for Plasma Research, Bhat, Gandhinagar 382428, India
- 60University of Szeged, Dóm tér 9, Szeged 6720, Hungary
- 61Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, Arizona 86301, USA
- 62Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 400005, India
- 63American University, Washington, D.C. 20016, USA
- 64University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA
- 65University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
- 66West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506, USA
- 67SUPA, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ, United Kingdom
- 68IISER-TVM, CET Campus, Trivandrum, Kerala 695016, India
- 69Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA
- 70Institute of Applied Physics, Nizhny Novgorod 603950, Russia
- 71Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, Korea
- 72Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Korea
- 73Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York 14623, USA
- 74Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia
- 75Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea
- 76University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama 35899, USA
- 77Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70813, USA
- 78College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23187, USA
- 79Instituto de Física Teórica, University Estadual Paulista/ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research, São Paulo, São Paulo 01140-070, Brazil
- 80University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, United Kingdom
- 81IISER-Kolkata, Mohanpur, West Bengal 741252, India
- 82Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, HSIC, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
- 83Whitman College, 280 Boyer Ave, Walla Walla, Washington 9936, USA
- 84National Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Daejeon 305-390, Korea
- 85Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York 14456, USA
- 86Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan 49104, USA
- 87Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas 78212, USA
- 88University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
- 89Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio 43022, USA
- 90Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas 79699, USA
- *Corresponding author. lsc-spokesperson@ligo.org
- †Deceased.
Phys. Rev. D 95, 062003 – Published 28 March, 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.95.062003
Abstract
In Advanced LIGO, detection and astrophysical source parameter estimation of the binary black hole merger GW150914 requires a calibrated estimate of the gravitational-wave strain sensed by the detectors. Producing an estimate from each detector’s differential arm length control loop readout signals requires applying time domain filters, which are designed from a frequency domain model of the detector’s gravitational-wave response. The gravitational-wave response model is determined by the detector’s opto-mechanical response and the properties of its feedback control system. The measurements used to validate the model and characterize its uncertainty are derived primarily from a dedicated photon radiation pressure actuator, with cross-checks provided by optical and radio frequency references. We describe how the gravitational-wave readout signal is calibrated into equivalent gravitational-wave-induced strain and how the statistical uncertainties and systematic errors are assessed. Detector data collected over 38 calendar days, from September 12 to October 20, 2015, contain the event GW150914 and approximately 16 days of coincident data used to estimate the event false alarm probability. The calibration uncertainty is less than 10% in magnitude and 10° in phase across the relevant frequency band, 20 Hz to 1 kHz.