
Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications and Presentations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-2024
Abstract
Despite the growing number of binary black hole coalescences confidently observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include the effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that have already been identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total source-frame mass M > 70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz emitted gravitational-wave frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place a conservative upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0 < e ≤ 0.3 at 16.9 Gpc−3 yr−1 at the 90% confidence level.
Recommended Citation
Abac, A. G., R. Abbott, H. Abe, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, C. Adamcewicz, S. Adhicary, et al. 2024. “Search for Eccentric Black Hole Coalescences during the Third Observing Run of LIGO and Virgo.” The Astrophysical Journal 973 (2): 132. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad65ce
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Publication Title
The Astrophysical Journal
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad65ce
Comments
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