LIGO-Virgo detector characterization and data quality (DetChar): from the O3 performance to the O4 preparation

Abstract

Detector characterization and data quality -- in short "DetChar" -- activities are key to optimize the performance of data-taking periods ("runs") and to turn gravitational-wave (GW) candidates into confirmed events. The LIGO and Virgo DetChar groups are active from the detector to the final analysis and cover various latencies: online first, to tag the data that search pipelines can analyze in real-time; then, the quick vetting (few tens of minutes at most) of the open public alerts targeting the broad astronomer community for follow-up observations; finally, offline work to define the final datasets and the final lists of GW events to be published and released publicly. These proceedings summarize the LIGO-Virgo DetChar performance during the O3 run (April 2019 - March 2020) and describe the main improvements and upgrades that are foreseen for the O4 run that should start during Summer 2022 and include a fourth detector: KAGRA.