A three-stage search for supermassive black-hole binaries in LISA data
Abstract
Gravitational waves from the inspiral and coalescence of supermassive black-hole (SMBH) binaries with masses m1 ~ m2 ~ 10^6Modot are likely to be among the strongest sources for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). We describe a three-stage data-analysis pipeline designed to search for and measure the parameters of SMBH binaries in LISA data. The first stage uses a time–frequency track-search method to search for inspiral signals and provide a coarse estimate of the black-hole masses m1, m2 and the coalescence time of the binary tc. The second stage uses a sequence of matched-filter template banks, seeded by the first stage, to improve the measurement accuracy of the masses and coalescence time. Finally, a Markov chain Monte Carlo search is used to estimate all nine physical parameters of the binary (masses, coalescence time, distance, initial phase, sky position and orientation). Using results from the second stage substantially shortens the Markov chain burn-in time and allows us to determine the number of SMBH-binary signals in the data before starting parameter estimation. We demonstrate our analysis pipeline using simulated data from the first Mock LISA Data Challenge. We discuss our plan for improving this pipeline and the challenges that will be faced in real LISA data analysis.
Additional Information
© US Govt. Received 19 April 2007, in final form 22 April 2007. Published 19 September 2007. Print publication: Issue 19 (7 October 2007). JC's, CC's and MV's work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. JC would like to thank the staff of the supercomputing facilities of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, where the MCMC stage of the searches described herein was carried out. IM would like to acknowledge the Brinson Foundation, NASA grant NNG04GK98G and NSF grant PHY-0601459 for financial support. MV is grateful for support from the Human Resources Development Fund program at JPL. DB acknowledges funding from NSF grant PHY-0601459 and the LIGO Laboratory. LIGO was constructed by the California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology with funding from the National Science Foundation and operates under cooperative agreement PHY-0107417. This paper carries LIGO document number LIGO-P070018-00-Z. PROCEEDINGS OF THE 11TH GRAVITATIONAL WAVE DATA ANALYSIS WORKSHOP, POTSDAM, GERMANY, 18-21 DECEMBER 2006, Classical and Quantum Gravity, Volume 24, Number 19, 7 October 2007 http://www.iop.org/EJ/toc/0264-9381/24/19Files
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- CaltechAUTHORS:BROcqg07
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2007-09-25Created from EPrint's datestamp field
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2022-07-12Created from EPrint's last_modified field
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