A Bounce-Signature Timing Discriminator for a Distributed Detector Network with Computed Coincidence Performance

A bounce, if one occurs in an observable channel, announces itself as a short, chirp-like signature whose most robust feature is its timing pattern across a distributed network. This paper specifies the timing discriminator for such a network of four stations: the unit that decides, from arrival times alone, whether a set of triggers is one event seen four times or four unrelated accidents. From the Cramer-Rao timing bound at a template root-mean-square frequency of 120 hertz and a reference signal-to-noise ratio of twelve, the single-station timing uncertainty is 111 microseconds and the network-combined uncertainty 55 microseconds. A five-sigma coincidence window of 0.28 milliseconds then gives a four-fold accidental coincidence rate of 4.22e-15 per second, or 1.33e-07 per year, below the one-per-year design target. SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED: the performance is computed from stated assumptions about a hypothetical signal class.