GW Open Data Workshop

Overview

This is an exciting time in gravitational-wave astronomy! LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA just finished their fourth observing run (O4). Data from the past three observing runs (O1, O2, and O3) and the beginning of O4 (O4a) are publicly available, and include over 200 detections of compact object mergers. And the list continues to grow as more confirmed detections are added.

After you enroll, you will receive a crash-course in gravitational-wave (GW) data analysis. By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• Describe the basics of how LIGO and Virgo record data
• Find and download LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA data
• Make plots of real data and simulated waveforms
• Use matched filtering to identify transient signals in LIGO/Virgo data
• Use parameter estimation to extract astrophysical information from transient signals

This course includes lectures, software tutorials, quiz questions, and a data challenge. Complete the course and data challenge to receive a certificate.

This page will be updated with new information as the workshop date approaches. Keep reading to learn more.

Structure

This will be a hybrid workshop, which means that it will have in-person and online elements.

There are 3 ways to attend the workshop:

• You can join the in-person in Toulouse (France). This event includes the lectures and hands-in sessions were participants will work on the software tutorials. Lectures will be streamed online and recordings will be made available after each session for online participants. See the schedule below. We will send an email to all registered participants with instructions for joining the lecture sessions on zoom or the recordings.
• Study Hubs are in-person or online events where you can work along with other participants. You are welcome to join a Study Hub, or start your own. The detailed organization may vary from one study hub to the other so please refer to the study hub organizers.
• You can participate online on Thinkific.

In all case, you must enroll on Thinkific to access the lectures, the quiz and the challenge.

Tutorials

This workshop uses software tutorials to introduce practical GW data analysis. Please be aware that the tutorials will be under some development before the start of the workshop, so they are subject to change.

These tutorials will be used during the hands-in sessions and are needed to answer the quiz on Thinkific.

• You'll need a computer and internet connection. Any operating system will do.
• Tutorials may be run locally on your computer, or online in the browser.
• Some previous experience with the Python language is recommended.

Visit the software tutorial repo page and setup instructions page to learn how to run them.

Optional: Introductory Tutorials

If you're new to python or signal processing, you may wish to explore some introductory material in advance of the workshop:

• Learning Path
• Introductory Tutorials

Get help!

If you still have questions you can post them in the discussion forum at ask.igwn.org.