Description
The sensitivity of the global gravitational-wave detector network is known to vary across the sky. In this study, part of the GWTboost non-flagship use case and utilising the LEONARDO high-performance computing resources, we investigate the global directional sensitivity of the current LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA network during the O4a and O4b observing runs. To this end, we study the network’s cumulative antenna pattern. As test signals, we employ narrow sine-Gaussian waveforms centered at 20, 40, 100, and 1000 Hz to evaluate how the cumulative antenna pattern at different frequencies. The resulting sky maps display peaks at different sky locations depending on the signal frequency. Furthermore, the interval between the minimum and maximum amplitudes of the cumulative antenna patterns exhibits a clear frequency dependence, indicating a nontrivial anisotropy in the network’s response. These results provide a foundation for potential correlations of the frequency-dependent sensitivity maps with galaxy catalogs, enabling investigations into possible alignments between regions of enhanced network sensitivity and the large-scale structure of nearby galaxy clusters.
