Early Advanced LIGO binary neutron-star sky localization and parameter estimation

Abstract

2015 will see the first observations of Advanced LIGO and the start of the gravitational-wave (GW) advanced-detector era. One of the most promising sources for ground- based GW detectors are binary neutron-star (BNS) coalescences. In order to use any detections for astrophysics, we must understand the capabilities of our parameter-estimation analysis. By simulating the GWs from an astrophysically motivated population of BNSs, we examine the accuracy of parameter inferences in the early advanced-detector era. We find that sky location, which is important for electromagnetic follow-up, can be determined rapidly (~ 5 s), but that sky areas may be hundreds of square degrees. The degeneracy between component mass and spin means there is significant uncertainty for measurements of the individual masses and spins; however, the chirp mass is well measured (typically better than 0.1%).

Additional Information

© 2016 IOP Publishing. Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. This work was supported in part by STFC. This is LIGO document reference LIGO-P1500155. A catalogue of results is available at www.ligo.org/scientists/first2years/.

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Published - Berry_2016_J._Phys.__Conf._Ser._716_012031.pdf

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