Detecting transient gravitational waves in non-Gaussian noise with partially redundant analysis methods

TL;DR

This paper presents a method to combine results from multiple, potentially dependent searches for transient gravitational waves, enhancing detection sensitivity and ensuring consistent interpretation in non-Gaussian noise environments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to integrate non-independent search results as classifiers, improving gravitational wave detection in complex noise conditions.

Findings

Enhanced sensitivity to gravitational-wave events.

Effective handling of non-Gaussian noise.

Improved consistency in multi-search analysis.

Abstract

There is a broad class of astrophysical sources that produce detectable, transient, gravitational waves. Some searches for transient gravitational waves are tailored to known features of these sources. Other searches make few assumptions about the sources. Typically events are observable with multiple search techniques. This work describes how to combine the results of searches that are not independent, treating each search as a classifier for a given event. This will be shown to improve the overall sensitivity to gravitational-wave events while directly addressing the problem of consistent interpretation of multiple trials.