A directed search for gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 with initial LIGO

Abstract

We present results of a search for continuously-emitted gravitational radiation, directed at the brightest low-mass X-ray binary, Scorpius X-1. Our semi-coherent analysis covers 10 days of LIGO S5 data ranging from 50-550 Hz, and performs an incoherent sum of coherent $\mathcal{F}$-statistic power distributed amongst frequency-modulated orbital sidebands. All candidates not removed at the veto stage were found to be consistent with noise at a 1% false alarm rate. We present Bayesian 95% confidence upper limits on gravitational-wave strain amplitude using two different prior distributions: a standard one, with no a priori assumptions about the orientation of Scorpius X-1; and an angle-restricted one, using a prior derived from electromagnetic observations. Median strain upper limits of 1.3e-24 and 8e-25 are reported at 150 Hz for the standard and angle-restricted searches respectively. This proof of principle analysis was limited to a short observation time by unknown effects of accretion on the intrinsic spin frequency of the neutron star, but improves upon previous upper limits by factors of ~1.4 for the standard, and 2.3 for the angle-restricted search at the sensitive region of the detector.

arXiv comment19 pages, 8 figures

References in corpus (37)

• LIGO: The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory
• Observations of Accreting Pulsars
• Data analysis of gravitational-wave signals from spinning neutron stars. I. The signal and its detection
• Gravitational Radiation and Rotation of Accreting Neutron Stars
• Gravitational waves from hot young rapidly rotating neutron stars
• Nuclear-Powered Millisecond Pulsars and the Maximum Spin Frequency of Neutron Stars
• Deformations of Accreting Neutron Star Crusts and Gravitational Wave Emission
• Maximum elastic deformations of compact stars with exotic equations of state
• Detecting gravitational wave emission from the known accreting neutron stars
• Maximum elastic deformations of relativistic stars
• Thermonuclear burst oscillations
• The mass donor of Scorpius X-1 revealed
• Coherent searches for periodic gravitational waves from unknown isolated sources and Scorpius X-1: results from the second LIGO science run
• Sco X-1: The Evolution and Nature of the Twin Compact Radio Lobes
• Mountains on Neutron Stars: Accreted vs. Non-Accreted crusts
• Gravitational Radiation from an Accreting Millisecond Pulsar with a Magnetically Confined Mountain
• First search for gravitational waves from the youngest known neutron star
• Calibration of the LIGO Gravitational Wave Detectors in the Fifth Science Run
• A New Search Technique for Short Orbital Period Binary Pulsars
• The search for continuous gravitational waves: metric of the multi-detector F-statistic
• Upper limit map of a background of gravitational waves
• Spin Evolution of Accreting Neutron Stars: Nonlinear Development of the R-mode Instability
• Directional limits on persistent gravitational waves using LIGO S5 science data
• Einstein@Home all-sky search for periodic gravitational waves in LIGO S5 data
• A radiometer for stochastic gravitational waves
• First all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from unknown sources in binary systems
• Gravitational Waves and the Maximum Spin Frequency of Neutron Stars
• An all-sky search algorithm for continuous gravitational waves from spinning neutron stars in binary systems
• Quadrupole moment of a magnetically confined mountain on an accreting neutron star: effect of the equation of state
• Gravitational waves from rotating neutron stars
• Precision ephemerides for gravitational-wave searches: I. Sco X-1
• Improved estimate of the detectability of gravitational radiation from a magnetically confined mountain on an accreting neutron star
• Gravitational waves from color-magnetic `mountains' in neutron stars
• Implementation of the frequency-modulated sideband search method for gravitational waves from low mass X-ray binaries
• A fast search strategy for gravitational waves from low-mass X-ray binaries
• Gravitational waves from rapidly rotating neutron stars
• Gravitational Waves from Low-Mass X-ray Binaries: a Status Report

Cited by in corpus (46)

• All-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from isolated neutron stars using Advanced LIGO O2 data
• Directional limits on persistent gravitational waves from Advanced LIGO's first observing run
• Searches for Continuous-Wave Gravitational Radiation
• Recent searches for continuous gravitational waves
• Continuous gravitational waves from neutron stars: current status and prospects
• Search for gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 in the first Advanced LIGO observing run with a hidden Markov model
• Hidden Markov model tracking of continuous gravitational waves from a neutron star with wandering spin
• Constraining astrophysical observables of Galaxy and Supermassive Black Hole Binary Mergers using Pulsar Timing Arrays
• Detecting gravitational waves from mountains on neutron stars in the Advanced Detector Era
• Narrow-band search for gravitational waves from known pulsars using the second LIGO observing run
• Upper Limits on Gravitational Waves from Scorpius X-1 from a Model-Based Cross-Correlation Search in Advanced LIGO Data
• Fast and Accurate Sensitivity Estimation for Continuous-Gravitational-Wave Searches
• Searches for continuous gravitational waves from nine young supernova remnants
• Searches for continuous gravitational waves from neutron stars: A twenty-year retrospective
• Directed searches for continuous gravitational waves from binary systems: parameter-space metrics and optimal Scorpius X-1 sensitivity
• Search for gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 in the second Advanced LIGO observing run with an improved hidden Markov model
• Modelling neutron star mountains
• Gravitational waves from Sco X-1: A comparison of search methods and prospects for detection with advanced detectors
• Modelling neutron star mountains in relativity
• Accretion-induced spin-wandering effects on the neutron star in Scorpius X-1: Implications for continuous gravitational wave searches
• Model-Based Cross-Correlation Search for Gravitational Waves from Scorpius X-1
• Search for gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 with a hidden Markov model in O3 LIGO data
• Neutron Star Crust Can Support A Large Ellipticity
• Search for gravitational waves from five low mass X-ray binaries in the second Advanced LIGO observing run with an improved hidden Markov model
• Searches for continuous gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 and XTE J1751-305 in LIGO's sixth science run
• Model-based cross-correlation search for gravitational waves from the low-mass X-ray binary Scorpius X-1 in LIGO O3 data
• Detecting very long-lived gravitational-wave transients lasting hours to weeks
• Hidden Markov model tracking of continuous gravitational waves from a neutron star with wandering spin. III. Rotational phase tracking
• Empirically extending the range of validity of parameter-space metrics for all-sky searches for gravitational-wave pulsars
• Population Synthesis of Accreting Neutron Stars Emitting Gravitational Waves
• Cross-correlation method for intermediate-duration gravitational wave searches associated with gamma-ray bursts
• Magnetic-distortion-induced ellipticity and gravitational wave radiation of neutron stars: millisecond magnetars in short GRBs, Galactic pulsars, and magnetars
• Search for continuous gravitational waves from ten H.E.S.S. sources using a hidden Markov model
• Banks of templates for all-sky narrow-band searches of gravitational waves from spinning neutron stars
• Resampling to accelerate cross-correlation searches for continuous gravitational waves from binary systems
• Novel directed search strategy to detect continuous gravitational waves from neutron stars in low- and high-eccentricity binary systems
• Magnetically confined mountains on accreting neutron stars with multipole magnetic fields
• Search for Gravitational Waves from Scorpius X-1 in LIGO O3 Data With Corrected Orbital Ephemeris
• Coherently combining short data segments for all-sky semi-coherent continuous gravitational wave searches
• Anisotropic neutron star crust, solar system mountains, and gravitational waves
• Implementation of a new weave-based search pipeline for continuous gravitational waves from known binary systems
• Searching for high-energy gamma-ray counterparts to Gravitational Wave sources with Fermi-LAT: a needle in a haystack
• Gravitational-wave searches in the era of Advanced LIGO and Virgo
• Of Mountains and Molehills : Gravitational Waves from Neutron Stars
• Deep searches for X-ray pulsations from Scorpius X-1 and Cygnus X-2 in support of continuous gravitational wave searches
• Analysing one- and two-bit data to reduce memory requirements for F-statistic-based gravitational wave searches