# Effects of transients in LIGO suspensions on searches for gravitational waves

## TL;DR

This study analyzes transient behaviors in LIGO suspensions, demonstrating that such transients are not a significant source of noise in gravitational wave detection during the first observing run.

## Contribution

It provides the first detailed characterization of suspension transients and their impact on gravitational wave data analysis in Advanced LIGO.

## Key findings

- Transient motions are consistent with transfer function models.
- Suspension transients are not significantly correlated with GW strain noise.
- Suspension transients do not dominate background noise in GW searches.

## Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the transient behavior of the Advanced LIGO suspensions used to seismically isolate the optics. We have characterized the transients in the longitudinal motion of the quadruple suspensions during Advanced LIGO's first observing run. Propagation of transients between stages is consistent with modelled transfer functions, such that transient motion originating at the top of the suspension chain is significantly reduced in amplitude at the test mass. We find that there are transients seen by the longitudinal motion monitors of quadruple suspensions, but they are not significantly correlated with transient motion above the noise floor in the gravitational wave strain data, and therefore do not present a dominant source of background noise in the searches for transient gravitational wave signals.