Abstract
We present a possible observing scenario for the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave detectors over the next decade, with the intention of providing information to the astronomy community to facilitate planning for multi-messenger astronomy with gravitational waves. We determine the expected sensitivity of the network to transient gravitational-wave signals, and study the capability of the network to determine the sky location of the source. We report our findings for gravitational-wave transients, with particular focus on gravitational-wave signals from the inspiral of binary neutron-star systems, which are considered the most promising for multi-messenger astronomy. The ability to localize the sources of the detected signals depends on the geographical distribution of the detectors and their relative sensitivity, and 90% credible regions can be as large as thousands of square degrees when only two sensitive detectors are operational. Determining the sky position of a significant fraction of detected signals to areas of 5 deg2to 20 deg2 will require at least three detectors of sensitivity within a factor of ~ 2 of each other and with a broad frequency bandwidth. Should the third LIGO detector be relocated to India as expected, a significant fraction of gravitational-wave signals will be localized to a few square degrees by gravitational-wave observations alone.
Recommended Citation
B. P. Abbott et al., "Prospects for Observing and Localizing Gravitational-Wave Transients with Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo," Living Reviews in Relativity, vol. 19, pp. 1 - 39, Springer Verlag, Dec 2016.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/lrr-2016-1
Department(s)
Physics
Keywords and Phrases
Data analysis; Electromagnetic counterparts; Gravitational waves; Gravitational-wave detectors
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
1433-8351
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2016 Springer Verlag, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Dec 2016