Coherent follow-up of Continuous Gravitational Wave candidates: minimal required observation time

TL;DR

This paper presents two methods to determine the minimal observation time needed for coherent follow-up of gravitational wave candidates, optimizing detection probability and computational efficiency.

Contribution

It introduces and compares two novel methods for calculating the minimal required integration time in coherent follow-up searches for gravitational waves.

Findings

The methods effectively estimate minimal observation time for candidate follow-up.

Numerical comparisons show trade-offs between integration duration and computational cost.

Monte Carlo simulations confirm the methods achieve desired detection probabilities.

Abstract

We derive two different methods to compute the minimal required integration time of a fully coherent follow-up of candidates produced in wide parameter space semi-coherent searches, such as global correlation StackSlide searches using Einstein@Home. We numerically compare these methods in terms of integration duration and computing cost. In a Monte Carlo study we confirm that we can achieve the required detection probability.