A cross-correlation method for burst searches with networks of misaligned gravitational-wave detectors

Coherent detection techniques are beginning to play more and more prominent roles in searches for gravitational-wave bursts with networks of interferometric detectors. Such techniques often involve cross-correlations of data streams from different detectors and therefore rely on similarity of their signals, which occurs only when the detectors are closely aligned. A simple extension of the cross-correlation test which can be applied even to completely misaligned interferometers is presented here. In this method, searches for bursts in one of the detectors are performed with noisy templates built out of the data streams from other detectors in the network. The efficiency of this algorithm is studied with numerical simulations. We show that by properly mixing the signals from misaligned detectors one can achieve a degree of their correlation which is close to that of a perfectly aligned pair of detectors. The redundancy in the signal mixing is used to improve the detection efficiency.

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