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| Coherent WaveBurst | |
|---|---|
| Name | Coherent WaveBurst |
| Title | Coherent WaveBurst |
| Developer | LIGO Scientific Collaboration / Virgo Collaboration / KAGRA |
| Released | 2000s |
| Latest release | ongoing |
| Programming language | C++ / Python / MATLAB |
| Operating system | Linux / macOS |
| License | GPL / open-source |
Coherent WaveBurst Coherent WaveBurst is an unmodeled, coherent, multi-detector analysis pipeline designed to detect and reconstruct transient astrophysical signals in noisy interferometric data. It operates within the data-analysis ecosystems of LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration, and KAGRA, providing low-latency triggers for follow-up by observatories such as Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, Swift, IceCube Neutrino Observatory, and electromagnetic partners. The pipeline interfaces with detector operations like LIGO Hanford Observatory, LIGO Livingston Observatory, and Virgo to enable searches that complement modeled searches such as those using matched filtering pipelines developed by PyCBC and GstLAL.
Coherent WaveBurst was created to identify short-duration, unmodeled bursts in data streams from interferometers including LIGO Laboratory, Virgo Collaboration, and KAGRA. It targets transients like core-collapse supernovae associated with Supernova 1987A, compact binary coalescences absent precise templates, and exotic sources considered by collaborations such as LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration. The approach stands alongside templated searches employed by groups such as LIGO Scientific Collaboration authors of the GstLAL and PyCBC frameworks, and it feeds low-latency alerts to networks including Gamma-ray Coordinates Network and observatories like Zwicky Transient Facility and Pan-STARRS.
The core algorithm performs a coherent, constrained likelihood analysis across a network of detectors like LIGO Hanford Observatory, LIGO Livingston Observatory, Virgo, and KAGRA, maximizing a detection statistic over sky location and polarization. It uses time-frequency decompositions such as wavelet transforms related to methods in S-transform research and clustering techniques similar to those used in Omega Pipeline and X-Pipeline. The pipeline constructs coherent signal estimators and incoherent null streams analogous to approaches in papers by Barry C. Barish, Rainer Weiss, and Kip Thorne to suppress instrumental artifacts studied by groups at Caltech and MIT. Regularization and penalty terms reflect statistical practices from Neyman–Pearson lemma-inspired detection theory and techniques cited in work by Bruce Allen and Patrick Brady.
Coherent WaveBurst is implemented in a combination of compiled and scripting languages commonly used by collaborations such as LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration, with interfaces for computing clusters at centers like LIGO Laboratory computing facilities and national resources including XSEDE and CERN-adjacent centers. The software integrates with workflow management systems used in projects like Gravitational Wave Open Science Center and accommodates data formats standardized by Frame format and LIGO Data Grid. Continuous integration and testing practices draw from norms at institutions such as Caltech, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and European Gravitational Observatory.
Coherent WaveBurst has been used to search for generic bursts connected to astrophysical events such as short gamma-ray bursts observed by Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and Swift, magnetar flares like those from SGR 1806−20, and unmodeled late-time emission from binary mergers involving sources studied in GW150914 and GW170817 publications. It contributed to multimessenger campaigns involving IceCube Neutrino Observatory, ANTARES, and optical facilities including Pan-STARRS and Zwicky Transient Facility. Its low-latency triggers have enabled follow-up by electromagnetic partners such as Hubble Space Telescope and radio arrays like Very Large Array.
Sensitivity performance is characterized by detection efficiency for ad hoc waveforms—sine-Gaussians, white-noise bursts, and waveforms from numerical relativity groups at Cornell University and Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute). Comparative studies contrast its reach with matched-filter pipelines used for searches reported by LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration for events like GW150914 and GW170817, showing complementary sensitivity at high signal bandwidths and for signals with uncertain phase evolution. The pipeline’s false-alarm rate and background estimation use time-slide techniques akin to statistical methods in analyses by Bruce Allen and Stefan Hild.
Validation relies on hardware injections performed at LIGO Hanford Observatory, LIGO Livingston Observatory, and Virgo, as well as software injections drawn from waveform catalogs maintained by Numerical Relativity groups including SXS and research groups at DAMTP. Extensive Monte Carlo studies use simulated noise informed by detector characterization efforts at LIGO Laboratory and European Gravitational Observatory, and coordinate with external calibration teams such as those at National Institute of Standards and Technology and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare.
Development traces to early burst-analysis efforts within the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and collaborations between researchers at institutions like Caltech, MIT, AEI, and Monash University. The pipeline evolved through commissioning phases during the initial and advanced detector eras, contributing to analyses reported in landmark papers by LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration documenting detections including GW150914 and follow-up strategies for GW170817. Ongoing development continues in tandem with upgrades at LIGO Hanford Observatory, LIGO Livingston Observatory, Virgo, and KAGRA.