Advancing Parameter Estimation for LIGO's Fourth Observing Run

Gravitational waves (GW’s) are ripples in the fabric of spacetime produced by rapid changes in the shape and orientation of extremely massive objects such as the merger of neutron stars or the colliding of black holes. Through direct detection of gravitational waves predictions made by Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity come to life. Detection of these curvature ripples as they propagate through the Earth has been realized during the last decade thanks to the LIGO - Virgo - KAGRA (LVK) collaboration. Since the first direct detections made of gravitational waves generated by a merger of compact binary black holes (GW150914) and neutron stars (GW170817), the global network of gravitational wave detectors has expanded and advanced with the third observing run (O3), which began in 2019, yielding four times as many gravitational-wave detections than made in total during the collaborations' first and secondary observing runs. LIGO is now preparing for the start of its fourth observing run (O4) which will follow numerous sensitivity upgrades to the interferometers to gain higher signal to noise ratios (SNR’s). This project aims to refine LIGO's parameter estimation techniques to prepare for the coming generation of gravitational wave detections.