Supplement: The Rate of Binary Black Hole Mergers Inferred from Advanced Ligo Observations Surrounding Gw150914
B. P. Abbott, California Institute of Technology
R. Abbott, Louisiana State University
T. D. Abbott, University of Salerno
M. R. Abernathy, Complesso Universitario di Monte sant'Angelo
F. Acernese, University of Florida
K. Ackley, Universite de Savoie
C. Adams, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
T. Adams, National Institute for Subatomic Physics
P. Addesso, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
R. X. Adhikari, National Institute for Space Research
V. B. Adya, National Institute for Nuclear Physics
C. Affeldt, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics India
M. Agathos, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
K. Agatsuma, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
N. Aggarwal, Leibniz University Hannover
O. D. Aguiar, University of Pisa
L. Aiello, Sezione di Pisa
A. Ain, Australian National University
P. Ajith, University of Mississippi
B. Allen, California State University Fullerton
A. Allocca, ComUE Paris-Saclay
P. A. Altin, Chennai Mathematical Institute
S. B. Anderson, University of Rome Tor Vergata
W. G. Anderson, University of Southampton
K. Arai, University of Hamburg
M. C. Araya, Universite Paris 7
C. C. Arceneaux, Montana State University
J. S. Areeda, University of Perugia
N. Arnaud, European Gravitational Observatory
K. G. Arun, Syracuse University
Abstract
This article provides supplemental information for a Letter reporting the rate of (BBH) coalescences inferred from 16 days of coincident Advanced LIGO observations surrounding the transient (GW) signal GW150914. In that work we reported various rate estimates whose 90% confidence intervals fell in the range 2-600 Gpc-3yr-1. Here we give details on our method and computations, including information about our search pipelines, a derivation of our likelihood function for the analysis, a description of the astrophysical search trigger distribution expected from merging BBHs, details on our computational methods, a description of the effects and our model for calibration uncertainty, and an analytic method for estimating our detector sensitivity, which is calibrated to our measurements.
