Can LIGO Detect Daylight Savings Time?
2025/09/15 by Reed Essick, Essick, Reed · 11 voices
Physics and Astronomy · Engineering · #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Astronomical Observations and Instrumentation #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2509.11849
Abstract
Yes, it can. Catalogs produced by networks of Gravitational-wave interferometers are subject to complicated selection effects, and the gold-standard remains direct measurements of the detection probability through large injection campaigns. I leverage public data products from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaborations' 3rd and 4th observing runs to show that there are non-trivial temporal variations within the detection probability that are well-described by a weekly cycle. There are clear differences between weekends and weekdays, between day and night (at the sites), and even between daylight-savings and standard time. I discuss possible causes for this behavior and implications.
Discussions
- Can LIGO Detect Daylight Savings Time? [hn, 36 points, 12 comments]
- Can LIGO Detect Daylight Savings Time? [lobsters, 16 points, 3 comments]
- Love this. LIGO is more likely to detect gravitational waves at night and during weekends. It's also less likely to detect things on Tuesdays. All because the detectors are more likely to be running a [bsky, 13 points, 2 comments]
- "Can LIGO Detect Daylight Savings Time?" "Yes, it can." Lol this is awesome. LIGO's detection probability varies with weekends vs weekdays, day vs night, and daylight savings time vs standard time. So [bsky, 4 points, 2 comments]
- “LIGO가 서머타임을 감지할 수 있을까?” ‘아니 이게 무슨 미친 소리야?’ 하고 열어봤는데 인간 활동으로 인한 잡음(주중 낮)과 정기 정비(화요일)로 인한 간섭이 실제 측정 데이터에 반영되는 모양이다. 민감한 장비일거라고는 생각했지만 이렇게까지 민감하다니 진짜 무슨 흑마법이라도 쓴건가 =_=;; [bsky, 2 points, 1 comments]
- physicists also have a stake in getting rid of daylight savings time to stop mucking up their data: arxiv.org/abs/2509.11849 (literally just came across this— there is no escape #dataBS) [bsky, 1 points, 1 comments]
- Best arXiv title of the evening: "Can LIGO detect Daylight Savings Time?" [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]
- Can LIGO Detect Daylight Savings Time? [hn, 1 points, 0 comments]
- Can LIGO Detect Daylight Savings Time? https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.11849 (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45419124) [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]
- Can LIGO Detect Daylight Savings Time? https://lobste.rs/s/2ofre3 #science #pdf [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]
- Can LIGO Detect Daylight Savings Time? https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.11849 [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]
Related