Do Binary Black Hole Merger Events Observed by LIGO and Virgo in their Third Observing Run Agree with Waveforms from General Relativity? A Study of Residuals

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Abstract:: We present the study of fitness of General Relativity-predicted waveform models to binary black hole signal data from LIGO and Virgo’s third observing run (O3). The data series observed by LIGO and V irgo are composed of both a merger signal and instrumental noise. Our hypothesis is that, should a waveform template predicted by General Relativity be fitted to approximate the merger signal then subtracted from the data series, what should be left over is a residual made up of pure instrumental noise. Thus, our objective is to determine if GR waveform templates accurately model O3 binary black hole signal data by creating a digital signal processing script that will derive a best fit waveform template from event parameters, subtract the template from the event data series, and then run a variety of statistical tests on the resulting residual to determine no residual signal remains.

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Erin_Wilson_LIGO_SURF_2020_Final_Presentation(1).pptx (file is not accessible)
Interim Report 1 (Erin_A_Wilson_LIGO_SURF20_Interim_Report_1_v1.pdf, file is not accessible)
Interim Report 2 (Erin_Wilson_InterimReport2_20200731.pdf, file is not accessible)
SURF project proposal (Erin_Wilson_LIGOSURFProposals_20200531.pdf, file is not accessible)

LIGO Document T2000363-v1