Searches for continuous gravitational waves from fifteen young supernova remnants in the first half of the third observing run of advanced LIGO and Virgo

Searches for continuous gravitational waves from fifteen young supernova remnants in the first half of the third observing run of advanced LIGO and Virgo

Searches for continuous gravitational waves from fifteen young supernova remnants in the first half of the third observing run of advanced LIGO and Virgo

Transient gravitational waves from compact binary coalesences have been directly observed by the advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), but there are other kinds of gravitational wave signals yet to be found. Continuous gravitational waves are one such source. Triaxial neutron stars are likely candidates for continuous, quasi-monochromatic gravitational waves. A recent paper from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) collaboration searches for continuous waves from fifteen young supernova remnants.

Citation

Abbott et al (2021), Searches for continuous gravitational waves from 15 young supernova remnants in the first half of the third observing run of advanced LIGO and Virgo, ApJ, submitted, arxiv.org/abs/2105.11641

Abstract

We present results of three wide-band directed searches for continuous gravitational waves from 15 young supernova remnants in the first half of the third Advanced LIGO and Virgo observing run. We use three search pipelines with distinct signal models and methods of identifying noise artifacts. Without ephemerides of these sources, the searches are conducted over a frequency band spanning from 10~Hz to 2~kHz. We find no evidence of continuous gravitational radiation from these sources. We set upper limits on the intrinsic signal strain at 95\% confidence level in sample sub-bands, estimate the sensitivity in the full band, and derive the corresponding constraints on the fiducial neutron star ellipticity and \(r\)-mode amplitude. The best 95\% confidence constraints placed on the signal strain are \(7.7\times 10^{-26}\) and \(7.8\times 10^{-26}\) near 200~Hz for the supernova remnants G39.2–0.3 and G65.7+1.2, respectively. The most stringent constraints on the ellipticity and \(r\)-mode amplitude reach \(\lesssim 10^{-7}\) and \(\lesssim 10^{-5}\), respectively, at frequencies above \(\sim 400\)~Hz for the closest supernova remnant G266.2–1.2/Vela Jr.

Overview

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Acknowledgements

In addition to the references and acknowledgements in the paper, this summary page acknowledges the following additional resources:

  • Cover image: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration. Acknowledgement: Robert A. Fesen (Dartmouth College, USA) and James Long (ESA/Hubble). Accessed via wikipedia as a public domain image.