Following up large numbers of candidates in continuous gravitational wave
searches presents a challenge, particularly in regard to computational power
and the time required to manually scrutinize each of the candidates. It is
important to design and test good follow-up procedures that are safe (i.e.,
minimize false dismissals) and computationally efficient across many search
configurations. We investigate two follow-up procedures, or “vetoes,” both of
which exploit the Doppler modulation predicted in astrophysical signals. In
particular, we introduce the concept of using an effective point spread
function as part of our veto criteria. We take advantage of a well-established
semicoherent search algorithm based on a hidden Markov model to study various
search configurations and to generalize the veto criteria by considering the
overall veto performance in terms of efficiency and safety. The results can
serve as a guideline for follow-up studies in future continuous gravitational
wave searches using a hidden Markov model algorithm. The results also apply
qualitatively to other semicoherent search algorithms.
