Observational Limit on Gravitational Waves from Binary Neutron Stars in the Galaxy
/ Authors
B. Allen, J. K. Blackburn, P. Brady, J. Creighton, J. Creighton, T. Creighton, S. Droz, A. Gillespie, Scott A. Hughes, S. Kawamura
and 9 more authors
T. T. Lyons, J. Mason, B. Owen, F. Raab, M. Regehr, B. Sathyaprakash, R. Savage, S. Whitcomb, A. Wiseman
/ Abstract
Using optimal matched filtering, we search 25 hours of data from the LIGO 40-m prototype laser interferometric gravitational-wave detector for gravitational-wave chirps emitted by coalescing binary systems within our Galaxy. This is the first test of this filtering technique on real interferometric data. An upper limit on the rate R of neutron star binary inspirals in our Galaxy is obtained: with 90% confidence, R<0.5h-1. Similar experiments with LIGO interferometers will provide constraints on the population of tight binary neutron star systems in the Universe.
Journal: Physical Review Letters