Upper Limit Map of a Background of Gravitational Waves

Authors

• B. Abbott, California Institute of Technology
• R. Abbott, California Institute of Technology
• R. Adhikari, California Institute of Technology
• J. Agresti, California Institute of Technology
• P. Ajith, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
• B. Allen, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
• R. Amin, Louisiana State University
• S. B. Anderson, California Institute of Technology
• W. G. Anderson, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• M. Arain, University of Florida
• M. Araya, California Institute of Technology
• H. Armandula, California Institute of Technology
• M. Ashley, The Australian National University
• S. Aston, University of Birmingham
• P. Aufmuth, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover
• C. Aulbert, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
• S. Babak, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
• S. Ballmer, California Institute of Technology
• H. Bantilan, Carleton College, USA
• B. C. Barish, California Institute of Technology
• C. Barker, LIGO Hanford
• D. Barker, LIGO Hanford
• B. Barr, University of Glasgow
• P. Barriga, The University of Western Australia
• M. A. Barton, University of Glasgow
• K. Bayer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• K. Belczynski, Northwestern University
• J. Betzwieser, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• P. T. Beyersdorf, San Jose State University
• B. Bhawal, California Institute of Technology
• I. A. Bilenko, Lomonosov Moscow State University
• Tiffany Z. Summerscales, Andrews UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-29-2007

Abstract

We searched for an anisotropic background of gravitational waves using data from the LIGO S4 science run and a method that is optimized for point sources. This is appropriate if, for example, the gravitational wave background is dominated by a small number of distinct astrophysical sources. No signal was seen. Upper limit maps were produced assuming two different power laws for the source strain power spectrum. For an f-3 power law and using the 50 Hz to 1.8 kHz band the upper limits on the source strain power spectrum vary between 1.2×10-48Hz-1 (100Hz/f)3 and 1.2×10-47Hz-1 (100Hz/f)3, depending on the position in the sky. Similarly, in the case of constant strain power spectrum, the upper limits vary between 8.5×10-49Hz-1 and 6.1×10-48Hz-1. As a side product a limit on an isotropic background of gravitational waves was also obtained. All limits are at the 90% confidence level. Finally, as an application, we focused on the direction of Sco-X1, the brightest low-mass x-ray binary. We compare the upper limit on strain amplitude obtained by this method to expectations based on the x-ray flux from Sco-X1. © 2007 The American Physical Society.

Journal Title

Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology

Volume

76

Issue

8

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.76.082003

First Department

Physics

Recommended Citation

Abbott, B.; Abbott, R.; Adhikari, R.; Agresti, J.; Ajith, P.; Allen, B.; Amin, R.; Anderson, S. B.; Anderson, W. G.; Arain, M.; Araya, M.; Armandula, H.; Ashley, M.; Aston, S.; Aufmuth, P.; Aulbert, C.; Babak, S.; Ballmer, S.; Bantilan, H.; Barish, B. C.; Barker, C.; Barker, D.; Barr, B.; Barriga, P.; Barton, M. A.; Bayer, K.; Belczynski, K.; Betzwieser, J.; Beyersdorf, P. T.; Bhawal, B.; Bilenko, I. A.; and Summerscales, Tiffany Z., "Upper Limit Map of a Background of Gravitational Waves" (2007). Faculty Publications. 1991.
https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/pubs/1991

Acknowledgements

Retrieved March 5, 2021 from https://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0703234.pdf