# Enhancing the significance of gravitational wave bursts through signal classification

## TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how astrophysical signal classification using neural networks can significantly improve the detection significance of gravitational wave bursts in all-sky searches, especially for compact binary coalescences.

## Contribution

It introduces a neural network-based classification approach that enhances detection significance and can distinguish different gravitational wave signal classes in all-sky burst searches.

## Key findings

- Orders of magnitude increase in signal significance.
- Detection of about 25% more signals at fixed misclassification rate.
- Neural networks can discriminate between different gravitational wave signal classes.

## Abstract

The quest to observe gravitational waves challenges our ability to discriminate signals from detector noise. This issue is especially relevant for transient gravitational waves searches with a robust eyes wide open approach, the so called all- sky burst searches. Here we show how signal classification methods inspired by broad astrophysical characteristics can be implemented in all-sky burst searches preserving their generality. In our case study, we apply a multivariate analyses based on artificial neural networks to classify waves emitted in compact binary coalescences. We enhance by orders of magnitude the significance of signals belonging to this broad astrophysical class against the noise background. Alternatively, at a given level of mis-classification of noise events, we can detect about 1/4 more of the total signal population. We also show that a more general strategy of signal classification can actually be performed, by testing the ability of artificial neural networks in discriminating different signal classes. The possible impact on future observations by the LIGO-Virgo network of detectors is discussed by analysing recoloured noise from previous LIGO-Virgo data with coherent WaveBurst, one of the flagship pipelines dedicated to all-sky searches for transient gravitational waves.