Report on the first binary black hole inspiral search in LIGO data

TL;DR

This paper details the initial search for binary black hole inspiral signals in LIGO's second science run data, describing analysis methods and sensitivity estimates for such gravitational wave events.

Contribution

It presents the first search methodology and preliminary sensitivity estimates for binary black hole inspirals in LIGO data.

Findings

Initial search results for black hole inspirals

Preliminary sensitivity estimates for LIGO detectors

Methodology for analyzing binary black hole signals

Abstract

The LIGO Scientific Collaboration is currently engaged in the first search for binary black hole inspiral signals in real data. We are using the data from the second LIGO science run and we focus on inspiral signals coming from binary systems with component masses between 3 and 20 solar masses. We describe the analysis methods used and report on preliminary estimates for the sensitivities of the LIGO instruments during the second science run.