Compact Binary Coalescence Sensitivity Estimates with Injection Campaigns during the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaborations' Fourth Observing Run

TL;DR

This paper details the characterization of gravitational-wave detector sensitivity to compact binary coalescences during LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA's fourth observing run, using extensive injection campaigns and analyzing subtle effects like diurnal duty cycles.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive sensitivity estimation method based on over 4.33×10^8 injections, and provides a curated public data set with detailed usage examples.

Findings

Identification of subtle effects such as diurnal duty cycles

Creation of a large, publicly available injection data set

Enhanced understanding of detector sensitivity during O4a

Abstract

We describe the effort to characterize gravitational-wave searches and detector sensitivity to different types of compact binary coalescences during the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaborations' fourth observing run. We discuss the design requirements and example use cases for this data product, constructed from $> 4.33\times10^8$ injections during O4a alone. We also identify subtle effects with high confidence, like diurnal duty cycles within detectors. This paper accompanies a public data release of the curated injection set, and the appendixes give detailed examples of how to use the publicly available data.