Recent results from continuous gravitational wave searches using data from LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA's third observing run

The third observing run of advanced LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA brought unprecedented sensitivity towards a variety of quasi-monochromatic, persistent gravitational-wave signals. Continuous waves allow us to probe not just the existence of canonical asymmetrically rotating neutron stars, but also different forms of dark matter, thus showing the wide-ranging astrophysical implications of using a relatively simple signal model. I will describe the major results from the numerous continuous-wave searches that were performed in O3, both inside and outside the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA collaborations, and show how impactful to multi-messenger physics that they have been.Comment: Contribution to the 2023 Gravitation session of the 57th Rencontres de Morion

Yellow-poplar veneer in the southern pine plywood industry

Yellow-poplar, Liriodendron tulipifera L., is an expanding timber resource of the southern Appalachian region. This resource has the potential to be utilized more completely. This study was done to examine one possible use of yellow-poplar, as a veneer in the southern pine plywood industry. In considering this use three main areas were examined: the technical feasibility, resource availability, and the economic feasibility of producing yellow-poplar veneer. A literature search as well as personal communication and visitation were used to obtain data on the technology involved when using yellow-poplar. Special emphasis was placed on yellow-poplar in relation to its potential use with southern yellow pine. Resource availability data were obtained from the United States Forest Service and Tennessee Valley Authority and were examined for possible plant locations. A computer simulation program of the Forest Service was used to examine cost factors. The data, used as inputs, were gathered from information supplied by industry as well as the American Plywood Association. It was found that an increasing supply of yellow-poplar was occurring in the region studied. This supply was believed to be of high quality which would peel well on a rotary lathe. The technical problems involved with using yellow-poplar were considered to be insignificant. It was felt that, technically, yellow-poplar could be used in the industry with existing equipment with only minor changes in heating and drying schedules. Cost factors were found to be comparable to those of southern pine. The cost involved in peeling and using yellow-poplar veneers was not prohibitive. It was concluded that yellow-poplar veneer was suitable for use as a substitute veneer in the southern pine plywood industry

The emergence of 4-cycles in polynomial maps over the extended integers

Let $f(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$; for each integer $\alpha$ it is interesting to consider the number of iterates $n_{\alpha}$, if possible, needed to satisfy $f^{n_{\alpha}}(\alpha) = \alpha$. The sets $\{\alpha, f(\alpha), \ldots, f^{n_{\alpha} - 1}(\alpha), \alpha\}$ generated by the iterates of $f$ are called cycles. For $\mathbb{Z}[x]$ it is known that cycles of length 1 and 2 occur, and no others. While much is known for extensions to number fields, we concentrate on extending $\mathbb{Z}$ by adjoining reciprocals of primes. Let $\mathbb{Z}[1/p_1, \ldots, 1/p_n]$ denote $\mathbb{Z}$ extended by adding in the reciprocals of the $n$ primes $p_1, \ldots, p_n$ and all their products and powers with each other and the elements of $\mathbb{Z}$. Interestingly, cycles of length 4, called 4-cycles, emerge for polynomials in $\mathbb{Z}\left[1/p_1, \ldots, 1/p_n\right][x]$ under the appropriate conditions. The problem of finding criteria under which 4-cycles emerge is equivalent to determining how often a sum of four terms is zero, where the terms are $\pm 1$ times a product of elements from the list of $n$ primes. We investigate conditions on sets of primes under which 4-cycles emerge. We characterize when 4-cycles emerge if the set has one or two primes, and (assuming a generalization of the ABC conjecture) find conditions on sets of primes guaranteed not to cause 4-cycles to emerge.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figur

Matched-filter study and energy budget suggest no detectable gravitational-wave 'extended emission' from GW170817

Van Putten & Della Valle (2018) have reported a possible detection of gravitational-wave 'extended emission' from a neutron star remnant of GW170817. Starting from the time-frequency evolution and total emitted energy of their reported candidate, we show that such an emission is not compatible with the current understanding of neutron stars. We explore the additional required physical assumptions to make a full waveform model, for example, taking the optimistic emission from a spining-down neutron star with fixed quadrupolar deformation, and study whether even an ideal single-template matched-filter analysis could detect an ideal, fully phase-coherent signal. We find that even in the most optimistic case an increase in energy and extreme parameters would be required for a confident detection with LIGO sensitivity as of 2018-08-17. The argument also holds for other waveform models following a similar time-frequency track and overall energy budget. Single-template matched filtering on the LIGO data around GW170817, and on data with added simulated signals, verifies the expected sensitivity scaling and the overall statistical expectation.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, updated version as accepted by MNRA

Probing the pulsar explanation of the Galactic-Center GeV excess using continuous gravitational-wave searches

Over ten years ago, Fermi observed an excess of GeV gamma rays from the Galactic Center whose origin is still under debate. One explanation for this excess involves annihilating dark matter; another requires an unresolved population of millisecond pulsars concentrated at the Galactic Center. In this work, we use the results from LIGO/Virgo's most recent all-sky search for quasi-monochromatic, persistent gravitational-wave signals from isolated neutron stars, which is estimated to be about 20-50\% of the population, to determine whether unresolved millisecond pulsars could actually explain this excess. First, we choose a luminosity function that determines the number of millisecond pulsars required to explain the observed excess. Then, we consider two models for deformations on millisecond pulsars to determine their ellipticity distributions, which are directly related to their gravitational-wave radiation. Lastly, based on null results from the O3 Frequency-Hough all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves, we find that a large set of the parameter space in the pulsar luminosity function can be excluded. We also evaluate how these exclusion regions may change with respect to various model choices. Our results are the first of their kind and represent a bridge between gamma-ray astrophysics, gravitational-wave astronomy, and dark-matter physics.Comment: Accepted, PRL, 5 pages + appendi

First search for ultralight dark matter with a space-based gravitational-wave antenna: LISA Pathfinder

We present here results from the first-ever search for dark photon dark matter that could have coupled to baryons in LISA Pathfinder, the technology demonstrator for a space-based gravitational-wave antenna. After analyzing approximately three months of data taken by LISA Pathfinder in the frequency range $[2\times 10^{-5},5]$ Hz, corresponding to dark photon masses of $[8\times 10^{-20},2\times 10^{-14}]$ eV/$c^2$, we find no evidence of a dark-matter signal, and set upper limits on the strength of the dark photon/baryon coupling. To perform this search, we leveraged methods that search for quasi-monochromatic gravitational-wave signals in ground-based interferometers, and are robust against non-Gaussianities and gaps in the data. Our work therefore represents a proof-of-concept test of search methods in LISA to find persistent, quasi-monochromatic signals, and shows our ability to handle non-Guassian artifacts and gaps while maintaining good sensitivity compared to the optimal matched filter. The results also indicate that these methods can be powerful tools in LISA to not only find dark matter, but also look for other persistent signals from e.g. intermediate-mass black hole inspirals and galactic white dwarf binaries.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Distinguishing between dark-matter interactions with gravitational-wave detectors

Ground-based gravitational-wave interferometers could directly probe the existence of ultralight dark matter ($\mathcal{O}(10^{-14}-10^{-11})$ eV/$c^2$) that couples to standard-model particles in the detectors. Recently, many techniques have been developed to extract a variety of potential dark-matter signals from noisy gravitational-wave data; however, little effort has gone into ways to distinguish between types of dark matter that could directly interact with the interferometers. In this work, we employ the Wiener filter to follow-up candidate dark-matter interaction signals. The filter captures the stochastic nature of these signals, and, in simulations, successfully identifies which type of dark matter interacts with the interferometers. We apply the Wiener filter to outliers that remained in the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA search for dark photons in data from the most recent observing (O3), and show that they are consistent with noise disturbances. Our proof-of-concept analysis demonstrates that the Wiener filter can be a powerful technique to confirm or deny the presence of dark-matter interaction signals in gravitational-wave data, and distinguish between scalar and vector dark-matter interactions.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure