Characterization of non-Gaussianity in gravitational wave detector noise

Abstract

The first detection of a gravitational wave (GW) has been achieved by two detectors of the advanced LIGO. Routine detections of GW events from various GW sources are expected in the coming decades. Although the first signal was statistically significant, we expect to see numerous low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) events with which we may be able to learn various aspects of the Universe that have yet to be unveiled. On the other hand, instrumental glitches due to nonstationarity and/or a non-Gaussian tail of detector noise distribution prevent us from confidently identifying true but low SNR GW signals out of instrumental noise. Thus, to make the best use of data from GW detectors, it is important to establish a method to safely distinguish true GW signals from false signals due to instrumental noises. For this purpose, we urgently need to understand characteristics of detector noises, since the nonstationarity and non-Gaussianity inherent in detector outputs are known to increase false detections of signals. Focusing on identifying the non-Gaussian noise components, this paper introduces a new measure for characterizing the non-Gaussian noise components using the parameter $\ensuremath{\nu}$ which characterizes the weight of tail in a Student-t distribution. A confidence interval is reported on the extent to which detector noise deviates from Gaussianity. Our method revealed stationary and transient deterioration of Gaussianity in LIGO S5 data.