Detection, reconstruction and interpretation of unmodelled gravitational-wave transients

The long-anticipated birth of gravitational-wave astronomy will occur in the next few years with the advent of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave detectors. These instruments will open a new channel for studying the most extreme phenomena and environments found in nature, including gamma-ray bursts, core-collapse supernovae, and black-hole mergers. The inner engines of these systems are either obscured or inherently invisible to electromagnetic observations. Furthermore, the associated gravitational-wave emission typically depends on poorly understood physics, such as the equation-of-state of matter at supra-nuclear densities. Gravitational waves will therefore provide an exciting new probe of these astrophysical systems, for example constraining the neutron star equation-of-state, and providing laboratories for tests of fundamental physics and cosmology. However,
realising the potential of gravitational waves poses a significant challenge: state-of-the-art techniques for detecting and interpreting gravitational waves require precise theoretical models of the gravitational-wave emission, and hence are not applicable to most gravitational-wave sources. This project aims at maximising the scientific exploitation of gravitational waves through advancements beyond current state-of-the-art in rapid automated analyses, advanced signal/background discrimination, and waveform reconstruction. The goals of this project are:
(i) to develop the model independent techniques needed to robustly detect gravitational waves from relativistic transient events, and determine the signal structure;
(ii) to apply these to data from the Advanced LIGO / Advanced Virgo network to detect GWs; and
(iii) to use detected GWs as probes of relativistic systems and fundamental physics.