LIGO Seminar

This past August, the Advanced LIGO detectors completed their second observing run. However, instrumental artifacts present in the data reduce the sensitivity of searches for gravitational waves. In this talk, I will give an overview of the main tools and methods used by the detector characterization team to address the effects of noise transients in the detectors and improve the ability of searches to detect gravitational waves from compact binaries. Using examples from LIGO's second observing run, I will discuss the specific impact of noise transients on the searches, details of the actions pursued to mitigate the effects of transients, and the results of these interventions