First search for gravitational waves from the youngest known neutron star

Authors

J. Abadie
B. P. Abbott
R. AbbottFollow
Matthew Benacquista, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Teviet Creighton, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Mario C. Diaz, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Soumya D. Mohanty, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Soma Mukherjee, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Volker Quetschke, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Malik Rakhmanov, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Joseph D. Romano, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-20-2010

Abstract

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 (0.7-1.2) × 10 -24 on the intrinsic gravitational-wave strain, (0.4-4) × 10-4 on the equatorial ellipticity of the neutron star, and 0.005-0.14 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 rmodes. This paper is also the first gravitational-wave search to present upper limits on the r-mode amplitude. © 2010. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.

Comments

© Astrophysical Journal. Original version available at: http://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/722/2/1504

Recommended Citation

Abadie, J., B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, M. Abernathy, C. Adams, R. Adhikari, P. Ajith et al. "First search for gravitational waves from the youngest known neutron star." The Astrophysical Journal 722, no. 2 (2010): 1504. http://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/722/2/1504

First Page

1504

Last Page

1513

Publication Title

Astrophysical Journal

DOI

10.1088/0004-637X/722/2/1504