Wavelet graphs for the direct detection of gravitational waves

Abstract

A second generation of gravitational wave detectors will soon come online with the objective of measuring for the first time the tiny gravitational signal from the coalescence of black hole and/or neutron star binaries. In this communication, we propose a new time-frequency search method alternative to matched filtering techniques that are usually employed to detect this signal. This method relies on a graph that encodes the time evolution of the signal and its variability by establishing links between coefficients in the multi-scale time-frequency decomposition of the data. We provide a proof of concept for this approach.