Table 1:
Summary of a plausible observing schedule, expected sensitivities, and source localization
with the advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors, which will be strongly dependent on the detectors’
commissioning progress. The burst ranges assume standard-candle emission of in
gravitational waves at 150 Hz and scale as , so it is greater for more energetic sources
(such as binary black holes). The binary neutron-star (BNS) localization is characterized by the
size of the 90% credible region (CR) and the searched area. For 2015 – 2016 and 2016 – 2017,
these have been calculated from parameter-estimation studies (neglecting detector calibration
uncertainty) [31, 99] using LALInference [110]. The CRs for subsequent periods are estimated
from timing triangulation (highlighted by italics), which is known to provide estimates on average a
factor of 4 too large for a three-detector network [60, 31], hence these serve as a conservative
bound. Both ranges as well as the BNS timing-triangulation localizations reflect the uncertainty in
the detector noise spectra shown in Figure 1. Differences in the shape of the detector noise curves
and also relative sensitivities between detectors have an effect on the localization areas. The BNS
detection numbers also account for the uncertainty in the BNS source rate density [13]. BNS detection
numbers and localization estimates are computed assuming a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 12.
Burst localizations are expected to be broadly similar to those derived from timing triangulation,
but vary depending on the signal bandwidth; the median burst searched area (with a false alarm rate
of ) may be a factor of 2 – 3 larger than the values quoted for BNS signals [51]. No
burst detection numbers are given, since the source rates are currently unknown. Localization and
detection numbers assume an 80% duty cycle for each instrument. |