4996770
Characterization of the seismic environment at the Sanford Underground Laboratory, South Dakota
An array of seismometers is being developed at the Sanford Underground Laboratory, the former Homestake mine, in South Dakota to study the properties of underground seismic fields and Newtonian noise, and to investigate the possible advantages of constructing a third-generation gravitational-wave detector underground. Seismic data were analyzed to characterize seismic noise and disturbances. External databases were used to identify sources of seismic waves: ocean-wave data to identify sources of oceanic microseisms and surface wind-speed data to investigate correlations with seismic motion as a function of depth. In addition, sources of events contributing to the spectrum at higher frequencies are characterized by studying the variation of event rates over the course of a day. Long-term observations of spectral variations provide further insight into the nature of seismic sources. Seismic spectra at three different depths are compared, establishing the 4100 ft level as a world-class low seismic-noise environment.
122598875
RESULTS FROM LIGO OBSERVATIONS: STOCHASTIC BACKGROUND AND CONTINUOUS WAVE SIGNALS
The search for gravitational radiation has entered a new era as the Laser Interferom-eter Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) has reached its initial target sensitivity. Other similar interferometric detectors are also approaching their design goals. There is presently vigorous activity in the gravitational radiation community in the search for signals. Here we review the status of the LIGO search for a stochastic background, and continuous wave signals.
2702261
LISA source confusion: identification and characterization of signals
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is expected to detect gravitational radiation from a large number of compact binary systems. We present a method by which these signals can be identified and have their parameters estimated. Our approach uses Bayesian inference, specifically the application of a Markov chain Monte Carlo method. The simulation study that we present here considers a large number of sinusoidal signals in noise, and our method estimates the number of periodic signals present in the data, the parameters for these signals and the noise level. The method is significantly better than classical spectral techniques at performing these tasks and does not use stopping criteria for estimating the number of signals present.
43905547
Veto studies for LIGO inspiral triggers
LIGO recently conducted its third scientific data run, S3. Here, we summarize the veto and data quality studies conducted by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration in connection with the search for binary inspiral signals in the S3 data. The veto results presented here come from studies on the S3 playground data. LIGO's interferometer channels and physical environmental monitors were monitored, and events in these channels coincident with inspiral triggers were examined.
13085972
Using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods for estimating parameters with gravitational radiation data
We present a Bayesian approach to the problem of determining parameters for coalescing binary systems observed with laser interferometric detectors. By applying a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm, specifically the Gibbs sampler, we demonstrate the potential that MCMC techniques may hold for the computation of posterior distributions of parameters of the binary system that created the gravity radiation signal. We describe the use of the Gibbs sampler method, and present examples whereby signals are detected and analyzed from within noisy data.
15022161
A first comparison of search methods for gravitational wave bursts using LIGO and Virgo simulated data
We present a comparative study of six search methods for gravitational wave bursts using simulated LIGO and Virgo noise data. The simulated data were generated according to the design sensitivity of the two 4 km LIGO interferometers and the 3 km Virgo interferometer. The searches were applied on replicas of the data sets to which eight different signals were injected. Three figures of merit were employed in this analysis: (a) receiver operator characteristic curves, (b) necessary signal-to-noise ratios for the searches to achieve 50% and 90% efficiencies and (c) variance and bias for the estimation of the arrival time of a gravitational wave burst.
119223957
Introducing an interface between WHIZARD and FeynRules
While Monte Carlo event generators like WHIZARD have become indispensable tools in studying the impact of new physics on collider observables over the last decades, the implementation of new models in such packages has remained a rather awkward and error-prone process. Recently, the FeynRules package was introduced which greatly simplifies this process by providing a single unified model format from which model implementations for many different Monte Carlo codes can be derived automatically. In this note, we present an interface which extends FeynRules to provide this functionality also for the WHIZARD package, thus making WHIZARD's strengths and performance easily available to model builders.
118711275
New method for the spin determination of dark matter
We construct a new kinematical variable that is able to fully reconstruct the absolute value, and partially reconstruct the sign, of the angular distribution in the center of momentum system of a decaying particle in certain cases where the center of momentum system is only known up to a two-fold ambiguity. After making contact with Drell-Yan production at the Large Hadron Collider, we apply this method to the pair-production of dark matter in association with two charged leptons at the International Linear Collider and show that for a small intermediate width, perfect agreement is found with the true angular distribution in the absence of initial state radiation. In the presence of initial state radiation, we find that the modification to the angular distributions is small for most angles and that the different spin combinations should still be distinguishable. This enables us to determine the spin of the mother particle and the dark matter particle in certain cases.
119214149
Testing CP violation in ZZH interactions at the LHC
Abstract We study genuine CP-odd observables at the LHC to test the CP property of the ZZH interaction for a Higgs boson with mass below the threshold to a pair of gauge bosons via the process p p → Z H → l + l − b b ¯ . We illustrate the analysis by including a CP-odd ZZH coupling, and show how to extract the CP asymmetries in the signal events. After selective kinematical cuts to suppress the SM backgrounds plus an optimal log-likelihood analysis, we find that, with a CP violating coupling b ˜ ≃ 0.25 , a CP asymmetry may be established at a 3 σ (5 σ ) level with an integrated luminosity of about 30 (50) fb −1 at the LHC.
119105702
WLWL scattering in Higgsless models: Identifying better effective theories
The three-site model has been offered as a benchmark for studying the collider phenomenology of Higgsless models. In this paper we analyze how well the three-site model performs as a general exemplar of Higgsless models in describing WLWL scattering, and which modifications can make it more representative. We employ general sum rules relating the masses and couplings of the Kaluza-Klein modes of the gauge fields in continuum and deconstructed Higgsless models as a way to compare the different theories. We show that the size of the four-point vertex for the (unphysical) Nambu-Goldstone modes and the degree to which the sum rules are saturated by contributions from the lowest-lying Kaluza-Klein resonances both provide good measures of the extent to which a highly deconstructed theory can accurately describe the low-energy physics of a continuum 5D Higgsless model. After comparing the three-site model to flat and warped continuum models, we analyze extensions of the three-site model to a longer open linear moose with an additional U(1) group and to a ring ("breaking electroweak symmetry strongly" or "hidden local symmetry") model with three sites and three links. Both cases may be readily analyzed in the framework of the general sum rules. We demonstrate that WLWL scattering in the ring model can very closely approximate scattering in the continuum models, provided that the hidden local symmetry parameter a is chosen to mimic p-meson dominance of ?? scattering in QCD. The hadron and lepton collider phenomenology of both extended models is briefly discussed, with a focus on the complementary information to be gained from precision measurements of the Z' line shape and ZWW coupling at a high-energy lepton collider.
118594348
Discovering New Gauge Bosons of Electroweak Symmetry Breaking at LHC-8
We study the physics potential of the 8 TeV LHC (LHC-8) to discover, during its 2012 run, a large class of extended gauge models or extradimensional models whose low-energy behavior is well represented by an $SU(2{)}^{2}\ensuremath{\bigotimes}U(1)$ gauge structure. We analyze this class of models and find that, with a combined integrated luminosity of $40\char21{}60\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{fb}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ at the LHC-8, the first new Kaluza-Klein mode of the $W$ gauge boson can be discovered up to a mass of about 370\char21{}400 GeV when produced in association with a $Z$ boson.