The Mock LISA Data Challenges: from Challenge 3 to Challenge 4

TL;DR

The paper reports on the third Mock LISA Data Challenge, demonstrating successful detection and parameter estimation of various gravitational wave sources, showcasing advancements in LISA data analysis capabilities.

Contribution

It presents the results of Challenge 3, highlighting improved methods for analyzing complex gravitational wave signals from multiple sources.

Findings

Successful recovery of signals from Galactic binaries and black hole binaries

Detection of extreme-mass-ratio inspirals with SNRs of 10-50

Identification of cosmic-string bursts and a faint stochastic background

Abstract

The Mock LISA Data Challenges are a program to demonstrate LISA data-analysis capabilities and to encourage their development. Each round of challenges consists of one or more datasets containing simulated instrument noise and gravitational waves from sources of undisclosed parameters. Participants analyze the datasets and report best-fit solutions for the source parameters. Here we present the results of the third challenge, issued in Apr 2008, which demonstrated the positive recovery of signals from chirping Galactic binaries, from spinning supermassive--black-hole binaries (with optimal SNRs between ~ 10 and 2000), from simultaneous extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (SNRs of 10-50), from cosmic-string-cusp bursts (SNRs of 10-100), and from a relatively loud isotropic background with Omega_gw(f) ~ 10^-11, slightly below the LISA instrument noise.