Fine-Tuning the Optical Design of the Advanced Virgo+ Gravitational-Wave Detector Using Binary-Neutron Star Signals

Abstract

Advanced Virgo+ is a major upgrade of the Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave detector aiming to increase sensitivity in terms of binary neutron star (BNS) range by a factor 3–5 in the next few years. In this work, we present an optimization of the mirror transmittances for the second phase of the project (to be implemented for the O5 observation run) using a random walk algorithm implemented with the advGWINC software. In addition to BNS range, a post merger (PM) SNR is also used as a figure of merit to identify configurations that fine-tune the sensitivity curve, as a function of arm-cavity round trip losses.

Keywords

• gravitational-waves
• interferometric detectors
• Virgo
• binary neutron stars