GravEn: Software for the simulation of gravitational wave detector network response

Abstract

Physically motivated gravitational wave signals are needed in order to study the behaviour and efficacy of different data analysis methods seeking their detection. GravEn, short for Gravitational-wave Engine, is a MATLAB software package that simulates the sampled response of a gravitational wave detector to incident gravitational waves. Incident waves can be specified in a data file or chosen from among a group of pre-programmed types commonly used for establishing the detection efficiency of analysis methods used for LIGO data analysis. Every aspect of a desired signal can be specified, such as start time of the simulation (including inter-sample start times), wave amplitude, source orientation to line of sight, location of the source in the sky, etc. Supported interferometric detectors include LIGO, GEO, Virgo and TAMA.