Search for Gravitational Wave Signals Associated with Gamma-Ray Bursts during LIGO's Second Observing Run

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Date

2020-12-08

Authors

Palamos, Jordan

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Publisher

University of Oregon

Abstract

The advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors have recently ushered in the age of gravitational wave astronomy. In this dissertation we briefly review how gravitational waves arise from general relativity, how they are produced, and how they are detected with LIGO. We also review the connection between gravitational waves and gamma-ray bursts, and review a method used to search for gravitational waves from gamma-ray triggers. A search for gravitational wave signals associated with gamma-ray bursts during the second observing run of advanced LIGO and Virgo is presented. Of the 98 bursts considered, no significant signals were found except for GW170817 which was found with a p-value of 3.1 × 10 −4 . We report lower bounds on the distance to these gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), assuming various signal morphologies. We also describe the physical environment monitor system used at the LIGO observatories and present a new wide-band RF monitor for that system. This dissertation contains previously published co-authored material.

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Keywords

gamma-ray bursts, Gravitational waves

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