Evidence-based search method for gravitational waves from neutron star ring-downs

Document #:

LIGO-P070008-x0

Document type:

P - Publications

Abstract:

The excitation of quadrupolar quasinormal modes in a neutron star leads to the emission of a short, distinctive, burst of gravitational radiation in the form of a decaying sinusoid or “ring-down.” We present a Bayesian analysis method which incorporates relevant prior information about the source and known instrumental artifacts to conduct a robust search for the gravitational wave emission associated with pulsar glitches and soft gamma-ray repeater flares. Instrumental transients are modeled as sine-Gaussian and their evidence, or marginal likelihood, is compared with that of Gaussian white noise and ring-downs via the “odds-ratio.” Tests using simulated data with a noise spectral density similar to the LIGO interferometer around 1 kHz yield 50% detection efficiency and 1% false alarm probability for ring-down signals with signal-to-noise ratio rho=5.2. For a source at 15 kpc this requires an energy of 1.3×10-5M[sun]c2 to be emitted as gravitational waves.

Files in Document:

• P070008-01.pdf (file is not accessible)

Other Files:

• P070008-00.pdf (file is not accessible)

Topics:

• Document Migration from the old DCC
• Public relations

Authors:

• Matthew Pitkin
• James Clark
• Graham Woan
• Ik Siong Heng

Notes and Changes:

Rev P070008-01-Z:
- Full document number: LIGO-P070008-01-Z
- Author(s): James Clark; I. S. Heng; Matt Pitkin; Graham Woan
- Document date: 2007-06-26
- Document received date: 2007-06-26
- Document entry date: 2007-06-26

Rev P070008-00-Z:
- Full document number: LIGO-P070008-00-Z
- Author(s): James Clark; I. S. Heng; Matt Pitkin; Graham Woan
- Document date: 2007-03-28
- Document received date: 2007-04-11
- Document entry date: 2007-04-11

Journal References:

Published in Phys Rev D vol. 76 pg. 043003 (13pp).