The Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo gravitational wave interferometers have detected tens of transient gravitational-wave signals so far, and are constantly progressing toward higher sensitivities. The ultimate goal is to detect new signals in order to refine our understanding of the populations and physics of compact objects as black holes and neutron stars, as well as further explore cosmology, and fundamental physics.
LIGO and Virgo strain data from past observation runs and data snippets around discoveries are made publicly available, along with associated software libraries, at the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center. In order to facilitate the exploitation of these publicly available data, the LIGO and Virgo collaborations started in 2018 a series of Open Data Workshops (ODWs), intended for scientists and students who wish to learn about using gravitational-wave data and software, in order to conduct research of their own.
The 2021 edition of the workshop will be hosted remotely and will provide a set of lectures and hands-on data analysis sessions based on publicly available gravitational-wave data and specialized software tools.