Date of Award

January 2015

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Physics

Advisor(s)

Duncan A. Brown

Keywords

black hole, gravititational waves, LIGO, neutron star, spin

Subject Categories

Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Abstract

In this dissertation we study gravitational-wave searches for

binary neutron star and neutron star - black hole coalescences.

We determine the accuracy of post-Newtonian approximations as gravitational-wave

templates in matched-filter based searches for NSBH mergers.

We test a geometric method to generate template banks for BNS and NSBH mergers where

the components have intrinsic spin, and estimate the sensitivity to

astrophysical sources of searches that use these banks during Advanced LIGO.

We explore simplifications and optimizations to the search pipeline used

during S6/VSR2,3 gravitational-wave searches. We investigate methods for regenerating

template banks as the noise behavior of a detector changes over time. We further

investigate changes to the algorithm for determining coincidence between

candidates from multiple-detectors.

Finally, we develop a focused search for binary neutron stars, and test improvements

to its configuration using LIGO detector data from the most recent science

run.

Access

Open Access

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