Search for gravitational waves from low mass binary coalescences in the first year of LIGO's S5 data

• Main Authors: Wipf, Christopher C. (Contributor), Weiss, Rainer (Contributor), Waldman, Samuel J. (Contributor), Stein, Leo Chaim (Contributor), Stein, Andrew J. (Contributor), Smith, Nicolas de Mateo (Contributor), Shapiro, B. (Contributor), Sarin, P. (Contributor), Markowitz, Jared John (Contributor), Katsavounidis, Erotokritos (Contributor), Hughey, Brennan J. (Contributor), Harry, Gregory (Contributor), Grimaldi, F. (Contributor), Goda, K. (Contributor), Foley, Stephany (Contributor), Duke, I. (Contributor), Cao, Junwei (Contributor), Brunet, G. (Contributor), Blackburn, Lindy L. (Contributor), Barsotti, Lisa (Contributor), Mavalvala, Nergis (Contributor), Zucker, Michael E (Author), Shoemaker, David H (Author), Mittleman, Richard K (Author), Mason, Kenneth R (Author), MacInnis, Myron E (Author), Fritschel, Peter K (Author), Evans, Matthew J (Author), Donovan, Frederick J (Author), Corbitt, Thomas R (Author), Bodiya, Timothy P. (Author)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics (Contributor), MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research (Contributor), Zucker, Michael E. (Contributor), Shoemaker, David H. (Contributor), Mittleman, Richard K. (Contributor), Mason, Kenneth R. (Contributor), MacInnis, Myron E. (Contributor), Fritschel, Peter K. (Contributor), Evans, Matthew J. (Contributor), Donovan, Frederick J. (Contributor), Corbitt, Thomas R. (Contributor), Bodiya, Timothy Paul (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Physical Society, 2010-03-01T19:53:44Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

We have searched for gravitational waves from coalescing low mass compact binary systems with a total mass between 2M[subscript ⊙] and 35M[subscript ⊙] and a minimum component mass of 1M[subscript ⊙] using data from the first year of the fifth science run of the three LIGO detectors, operating at design sensitivity. Depending on the mass, we are sensitive to coalescences as far as 150 Mpc from the Earth. No gravitational-wave signals were observed above the expected background. Assuming a population of compact binary objects with a Gaussian mass distribution representing binary neutron star systems, black hole-neutron star binary systems, and binary black hole systems, we calculate the 90% confidence upper limit on the rate of coalescences to be 3.9×10[superscript -2]  yr-1L[subscript 10][superscript -1], 1.1×10[superscript -2]  yr-1L[subscript 10][superscript -1], and 2.5×10[superscript -3]  yr-1L[subscript 10][superscript -1], respectively, where L[subscript 10] is 10[superscript 10] times the blue solar luminosity. We also set improved upper limits on the rate of compact binary coalescences per unit blue-light luminosity, as a function of mass.
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Research Corporation
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Leverhulme Trust
Carnegie Trust
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Scottish Universities Physics Alliance
Scottish Funding Council
Royal Society, United Kingdom
Conselleria d'Economia, Hisenda i Innovació of the Govern de les Illes Balears
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of Italy
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of India
Australian Research Council
State of Niedersachsen, Germany
Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science
Science and Technology Facilities Council, United Kingdom
National Science Foundation