TY - JOUR

T1 - Einstein@Home search for periodic gravitational waves in LIGO S4 data

AU - LIGO Scientific Collaboration

AU - Pitkin, M.

PY - 2009/1/20

Y1 - 2009/1/20

N2 - A search for periodic gravitational waves, from sources such as isolated rapidly spinning neutron stars, was carried out using 510 h of data from the fourth LIGO science run (S4). The search was for quasimonochromatic waves in the frequency range from 50 to 1500 Hz, with a linear frequency drift .f (measured at the solar system barycenter) in the range −f/τ<˙f<0.1f/τ, where the minimum spin-down age τ was 1000 yr for signals below 300 Hz and 10 000 yr above 300 Hz. The main computational work of the search was distributed over approximately 100 000 computers volunteered by the general public. This large computing power allowed the use of a relatively long coherent integration time of 30 h, despite the large parameter space searched. No statistically significant signals were found. The sensitivity of the search is estimated, along with the fraction of parameter space that was vetoed because of contamination by instrumental artifacts. In the 100 to 200 Hz band, more than 90% of sources with dimensionless gravitational-wave strain amplitude greater than 10−23 would have been detected.

AB - A search for periodic gravitational waves, from sources such as isolated rapidly spinning neutron stars, was carried out using 510 h of data from the fourth LIGO science run (S4). The search was for quasimonochromatic waves in the frequency range from 50 to 1500 Hz, with a linear frequency drift .f (measured at the solar system barycenter) in the range −f/τ<˙f<0.1f/τ, where the minimum spin-down age τ was 1000 yr for signals below 300 Hz and 10 000 yr above 300 Hz. The main computational work of the search was distributed over approximately 100 000 computers volunteered by the general public. This large computing power allowed the use of a relatively long coherent integration time of 30 h, despite the large parameter space searched. No statistically significant signals were found. The sensitivity of the search is estimated, along with the fraction of parameter space that was vetoed because of contamination by instrumental artifacts. In the 100 to 200 Hz band, more than 90% of sources with dimensionless gravitational-wave strain amplitude greater than 10−23 would have been detected.

KW - 04.80.Nn

KW - 07.05.Kf

KW - 95.55.Ym

KW - 97.60.Gb

KW - Gravitational wave detectors and experiments

KW - Data analysis: algorithms and implementation

KW - data management

KW - Gravitational radiation detectors

KW - mass spectrometers

KW - and other instrumentation and techniques

KW - Pulsars

KW - General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevD.79.022001

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevD.79.022001

M3 - Journal article

VL - 79

JO - Physical Review D

JF - Physical Review D

SN - 1550-7998

IS - 2

M1 - 022001

ER -