Results of an all-sky high-frequency Einstein@Home search for continuous gravitational waves in LIGO’s fifth science run

• Published in: Physical review. D 2016-09, Vol.94 (6), Article 064061
• Main Authors: Singh, Avneet, Papa, Maria Alessandra, Eggenstein, Heinz-Bernd, Zhu, Sylvia, Pletsch, Holger, Allen, Bruce, Bock, Oliver, Maschenchalk, Bernd, Prix, Reinhard, Siemens, Xavier
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Computation; Confidence intervals; Continuity (mathematics); Earth rotation; Gravitation; Gravitational waves; Moments of inertia; Personal computers; Searching
• ISSN: 2470-0010; 2470-0029
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.94.064061

We present results of a high-frequency all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from isolated compact objects in LIGO’s fifth science run (S5) data, using the computing power of the Einstein@Home volunteer computing project. This is the only dedicated continuous gravitational wave search that probes this high-frequency range on S5 data. We find no significant candidate signal, so we set 90% confidence level upper limits on continuous gravitational wave strain amplitudes. At the lower end of the search frequency range, around 1250 Hz, the most constraining upper limit is 5.0×10−24, while at the higher end, around 1500 Hz, it is 6.2×10−24. Based on these upper limits, and assuming a fiducial value of the principal moment of inertia of 1038  kg m2, we can exclude objects with ellipticities higher than roughly 2.8×10−7 within 100 pc of Earth with rotation periods between 1.3 and 1.6 milliseconds.