Extending Searches for New Types of Gravitational-Wave Sources

This project will look at making the search for compact binary coalescences more sensitive, by understanding how the existing PyCBC pipeline reacts to different sources of detector noise and researching novel solutions to overcome the noise. This will extend the search down in frequency and open up the intermediate mass black hole space, answering the question of whether black holes can have a mass in the pair instability supernova region. The other aspect of their project will focus on analysing optical images taken in response to gravitational-wave signals, and understanding the range of optical signals present for different types of gravitational-wave sources.