Validation of data in operating resonant detectors.

Assessing the confidence of detection for candidate signals of gravitational waves is a particularly subtle matter. A fundamental step toward this achievement is the validation of the output data of the detectors involved. Here we present how this is accomplished in the operating resonant detector AURIGA by discriminating between satisfactory and unsatisfactory periods of operations on the basis of data self consistency. In particular, the statistics of the operating noise is checked against its simple model and the compliance to the expected shape of the candidates for burst gravitational wave events is assessed by means of a χ[sup 2] test. This approach helps in reducing the false alarm rate of each operating detector and moreover ensures the correctness of the estimated parameters of the candidate events. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]