99 research outputs found
Upper Limits on a Stochastic Background of Gravitational Waves
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory has performed a third science run with much improved sensitivities of all three interferometers. We present an analysis of approximately 200 hours of data acquired during this run, used to search for a stochastic background of gravitational radiation. We place upper bounds on the energy density stored as gravitational radiation for three different spectral power laws. For the flat spectrum, our limit of Ί_0<8.4Ă10^(-4) in the 69â156 Hz band is ~10^5 times lower than the previous result in this frequency range
Limits on Gravitational-Wave Emission from Selected Pulsars Using LIGO Data
We place direct upper limits on the amplitude of gravitational waves from 28 isolated radio pulsars by a coherent multidetector analysis of the data collected during the second science run of the LIGO interferometric detectors. These are the first direct upper limits for 26 of the 28 pulsars. We use coordinated radio observations for the first time to build radio-guided phase templates for the expected gravitational-wave signals. The unprecedented sensitivity of the detectors allows us to set strain upper limits as low as a few times 10^(-24). These strain limits translate into limits on the equatorial ellipticities of the pulsars, which are smaller than 10^(-5) for the four closest pulsars
Search for Gravitational-wave Inspiral Signals Associated with Short Gamma-ray Bursts During LIGO's Fifth and Virgo's First Science Run
Progenitor scenarios for short gamma-ray bursts (short GRBs) include coalescenses of two neutron stars or a neutron star and black hole, which would necessarily be accompanied by the emission of strong gravitational waves. We present a search for these known gravitational-wave signatures in temporal and directional coincidence with 22 GRBs that had sufficient gravitational-wave data available in multiple instruments during LIGO's fifth science run, S5, and Virgo's first science run, VSR1. We find no statistically significant gravitational-wave candidates within a [ â 5, + 1) s window around the trigger time of any GRB. Using the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney U-test, we find no evidence for an excess of weak gravitational-wave signals in our sample of GRBs. We exclude neutron star-black hole progenitors to a median 90% confidence exclusion distance of 6.7 Mpc
Search for gravitational waves from low mass compact binary coalescence in LIGOâs sixth science run and Virgoâs science runs 2 and 3
We report on a search for gravitational waves from coalescing compact binaries using LIGO and Virgo observations between July 7, 2009, and October 20, 2010. We searched for signals from binaries with total mass between 2 and 25M_â; this includes binary neutron stars, binary black holes, and binaries consisting of a black hole and neutron star. The detectors were sensitive to systems up to 40 Mpc distant for binary neutron stars, and further for higher mass systems. No gravitational-wave signals were detected. We report upper limits on the rate of compact binary coalescence as a function of total mass, including the results from previous LIGO and Virgo observations. The cumulative 90% confidence rate upper limits of the binary coalescence of binary neutron star, neutron star-black hole, and binary black hole systems are 1.3Ă10^(-4), 3.1Ă10^(-5), and 6.4Ă10^(-6)ââMpc^(-3)âyr^(-1), respectively. These upper limits are up to a factor 1.4 lower than previously derived limits. We also report on results from a blind injection challenge
First search for gravitational waves from the youngest known neutron star
We present a search for periodic gravitational waves from the neutron star in the supernova remnant Cassiopeia
A. The search coherently analyzes data in a 12 day interval taken from the fifth science run of the Laser
Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. It searches gravitational-wave frequencies from 100 to 300 Hz
and covers a wide range of first and second frequency derivatives appropriate for the age of the remnant and
for different spin-down mechanisms. No gravitational-wave signal was detected. Within the range of search
frequencies, we set 95% confidence upper limits of (0.7â1.2) Ă 10^(â24) on the intrinsic gravitational-wave
strain, (0.4â4) Ă 10^(â4) on the equatorial ellipticity of the neutron star, and 0.005â0.14 on the amplitude of
r-mode oscillations of the neutron star. These direct upper limits beat indirect limits derived from energy
conservation and enter the range of theoretical predictions involving crystalline exotic matter or runaway r-modes.
This paper is also the first gravitational-wave search to present upper limits on the r-mode amplitude
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