LIGO Document G1400823-v5

The road to Advanced LIGO's first observations

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LIGO-G1400823-v5
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G - Presentations (eg Graphics)
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Abstract:
The Advanced LIGO (aLIGO) detectors will offer significantly increased sensitivity at a broader range of frequencies than previous terrestrial interferometric gravitational wave observatories. The aLIGO interferometers, along with international partner observatories, are expected to play a key role in launching a new era of astrophysics with direct gravitational wave observations.

Installation of upgraded aLIGO instrumentation is nearly complete at both sites and the Livingston detector had already exceeded a 20 Mpc inspiral range at the time of writing this abstract, surpassing its enhanced detector performance. As a result of this rapid commissioning progress, the first observing run of the Advanced LIGO detectors is now projected to begin in early summer 2015 - less than a year from now.

This talk will give an overview of the expected instrumentation commissioning timeline and the likely observation scenarios of Advanced LIGO. I will address the status of preparing to analyze aLIGO data with a focus on transient gravitational wave searches, and offer a first glimpse of the transient data quality of the Livingston interferometer compared to prior LIGO science runs.

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Associated with Events:
NARDA 2014 held from 21 Aug 2014 to 22 Aug 2014 in California State University, Fullerton (CSUF)

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