@article{172950168dcb47cd87568e8435b4e476,
title = "Detecting Binary Compact-object Mergers with Gravitational Waves: Understanding and Improving the Sensitivity of the PyCBC Search",
abstract = "We present an improved search for binary compact-object mergers using a network of ground-based gravitational wave detectors. We model a volumetric, isotropic source population and incorporate the resulting distribution over signal amplitude, time delay, and coalescence phase into the ranking of candidate events. We describe an improved modeling of the background distribution, and demonstrate incorporating a prior model of the binary mass distribution in the ranking of candidate events. We find an ∼10% and ∼20% increase in detection volume for simulated binary neutron star and neutron star black hole systems, respectively, corresponding to a reduction of the false alarm rates assigned to signals by between one and two orders of magnitude.",
keywords = "black hole physics, gravitational waves, stars: neutron",
author = "Nitz, {Alexander H.} and Thomas Dent and {Dal Canton}, Tito and Stephen Fairhurst and Brown, {Duncan A.}",
note = "Funding Information: The authors thank the LIGO Scientific Collaboration for access to the Advanced LIGO data and gratefully acknowledge the support of the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) for the construction and operation of the LIGO Laboratory and Advanced LIGO as well as the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) of the United Kingdom, and the Max-Planck-Society (MPS) for support of the construction of Advanced LIGO. Additional support for Advanced LIGO was provided by the Australian Research Council. We thank Christopher Biwer, Soumi De, Ian Harry, Greg Mendell, Frank Ohme, Peter Saulson, Bernard Schutz, and Alan Weinstein for helpful discussions. T.D.C. is supported by an appointment to the NASA Postdoctoral Program at the Goddard Space Flight Center, administered by Universities Space Research Association under contract with NASA. D.A.B. acknowledges support from National Science Foundation awards PHY-1404395, ACI-1443047. D.A.B. performed part of this work at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, which is supported by NSF award PHY-1125915. S.F. acknowledges support from STFC awards ST/L000962/1. We thank the Atlas cluster computing team at AEI Hannover where this analysis was carried out. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017. The American Astronomical Society.",
year = "2017",
month = nov,
day = "10",
doi = "10.3847/1538-4357/aa8f50",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "849",
journal = "Astrophysical Journal",
issn = "0004-637X",
publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",
number = "2",
}