Optimal Calibration Accuracy for Gravitational Wave Detectors

TL;DR

This paper determines the optimal calibration accuracy levels for gravitational wave detectors, balancing calibration and modeling errors to maximize detection and measurement precision without unnecessary effort.

Contribution

It derives the theoretical limits of calibration accuracy needed for effective gravitational wave data analysis, considering the interplay with waveform modeling errors.

Findings

Optimal calibration accuracy levels are derived for detection and measurement.

Calibration errors impact data analysis similarly to waveform modeling errors.

Joint limits on calibration and modeling errors are established.

Abstract

Calibration errors in the response function of a gravitational wave detector degrade its ability to detect and then to measure the properties of any detected signals. This paper derives the needed levels of calibration accuracy for each of these data-analysis tasks. The levels derived here are optimal in the sense that lower accuracy would result in missed detections and/or a loss of measurement precision, while higher accuracy would be made irrelevant by the intrinsic noise level of the detector. Calibration errors affect the data-analysis process in much the same way as errors in theoretical waveform templates. The optimal level of calibration accuracy is expressed therefore as a joint limit on modeling and calibration errors: increased accuracy in one reduces the accuracy requirement in the other.