Published January 15, 2022 | Version Published + Accepted Version
Journal Article Open

Search for continuous gravitational waves from 20 accreting millisecond x-ray pulsars in O3 LIGO data

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Abstract

Results are presented of searches for continuous gravitational waves from 20 accreting millisecond x-ray pulsars with accurately measured spin frequencies and orbital parameters, using data from the third observing run of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The search algorithm uses a hidden Markov model, where the transition probabilities allow the frequency to wander according to an unbiased random walk, while the J-statistic maximum-likelihood matched filter tracks the binary orbital phase. Three narrow subbands are searched for each target, centered on harmonics of the measured spin frequency. The search yields 16 candidates, consistent with a false alarm probability of 30% per subband and target searched. These candidates, along with one candidate from an additional target-of-opportunity search done for SAX J1808.4−3658, which was in outburst during one month of the observing run, cannot be confidently associated with a known noise source. Additional follow-up does not provide convincing evidence that any are a true astrophysical signal. When all candidates are assumed nonastrophysical, upper limits are set on the maximum wave strain detectable at 95% confidence, h^(95%)₀. The strictest constraint is h^(95%)₀ = 4.7×10⁻²⁶ from IGR J17062−6143. Constraints on the detectable wave strain from each target lead to constraints on neutron star ellipticity and r-mode amplitude, the strictest of which are ε^(95%) = 3.1×10⁻⁷ and α^(95%) = 1.8×10⁻⁵ respectively. This analysis is the most comprehensive and sensitive search of continuous gravitational waves from accreting millisecond x-ray pulsars to date.

Additional Information

© 2022 American Physical Society. Received 19 September 2021; accepted 16 December 2021; published 19 January 2022. This material is based upon work supported by NSF's LIGO Laboratory which is a major facility fully funded by the National Science Foundation. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the support of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) of the United Kingdom, the Max-Planck-Society (MPS), and the State of Niedersachsen/Germany for support of the construction of Advanced LIGO and construction and operation of the GEO600 detector. Additional support for Advanced LIGO was provided by the Australian Research Council. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, for the construction and operation of the Virgo detector and the creation and support of the EGO consortium. The authors also gratefully acknowledge research support from these agencies as well as by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of India, the Department of Science and Technology, India, the Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB), India, the Ministry of Human Resource Development, India, the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación, the Vicepresidència i Conselleria d'Innovació, Recerca i Turisme and the Conselleria d'Educació i Universitat del Govern de les Illes Balears, the Conselleria d'Innovació, Universitats, Ciència i Societat Digital de la Generalitat Valenciana and the CERCA Programme Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain, the National Science Centre of Poland and the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP), the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, the Russian Science Foundation, the European Commission, the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF), the Royal Society, the Scottish Funding Council, the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA), the French Lyon Institute of Origins (LIO), the Belgian Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FRS-FNRS), Actions de Recherche Concertées (ARC) and Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek—Vlaanderen (FWO), Belgium, the Paris Île-de-France Region, the National Research, Development and Innovation Office Hungary (NKFIH), the National Research Foundation of Korea, the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council Canada, Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovations, the International Center for Theoretical Physics South American Institute for Fundamental Research (ICTP-SAIFR), the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the Leverhulme Trust, the Research Corporation, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan, the United States Department of Energy, and the Kavli Foundation. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the NSF, STFC, INFN and CNRS for provision of computational resources. This work was supported by MEXT, JSPS Leading-edge Research Infrastructure Program, JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Specially Promoted Research No. 26000005, JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas 2905: No. JP17H06358, No. JP17H06361 and No. JP17H06364, JSPS Core-to-Core Program A. Advanced Research Networks, JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research No. (S) 17H06133, the joint research program of the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, National Research Foundation (NRF) and Computing Infrastructure Project of KISTI-GSDC in Korea, Academia Sinica (AS), AS Grid Center (ASGC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) in Taiwan under grants including No. AS-CDA-105-M06, Advanced Technology Center (ATC) of NAOJ, and Mechanical Engineering Center of KEK. This work is supported by NASA through the NICER mission and the Astrophysics Explorers Program and uses data and software provided by the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), which is a service of the Astrophysics Science Division at NASA/GSFC and High Energy Astrophysics Division of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

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Published - PhysRevD.105.022002.pdf

Accepted Version - 2109.09255.pdf

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Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
113130
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20220127-790336500

Related works

Funding

NSF
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Max-Planck-Society
State of Niedersachsen/Germany
Australian Research Council
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO)
Council of Science and Industrial Research (India)
Department of Science and Technology (India)
Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB)
Ministry of Human Resource Development (India)
Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Vicepresidència i Conselleria d'Innovació, Recerca i Turisme
Conselleria d'Educació i Universitat del Govern de les Illes Balears
Conselleria d'Innovació, Universitats, Ciència i Societat Digital de la Generalitat Valenciana
Generalitat de Catalunya
National Science Centre (Poland)
Foundation for Polish Science
Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
Russian Foundation for Basic Research
Russian Science Foundation
European Commission
European Regional Development Funds (ERDF)
Royal Society
Scottish Funding Council
Scottish Universities Physics Alliance
Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA)
Lyon Institute of Origins (LIO)
Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS)
Actions de Recherche Concertées (ARC)
Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO)
Paris Île-de-France Region
National Research, Development and Innovation Office (Hungary)
National Research Foundation of Korea
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
Canada Foundation for Innovation
Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, Inovações e Comunicações (MCTIC)
International Center for Theoretical Physics South American Institute for Fundamental Research (ICTP-SAIFR)
Research Grants Council of Hong Kong
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Leverhulme Trust
Research Corporation
Ministry of Science and Technology (Taipei)
AS-CDA-105-M06
Department of Energy (DOE)
Kavli Foundation
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
26000005
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
JP17H06358
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
JP17H06361
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
JP17H06364
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
17H06133
Institute for Cosmic Ray Research
University of Tokyo
Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI)
Academia Sinica
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK)

Dates

Created
2022-01-28
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2023-03-16
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
LIGO , Physics Department , Physics Department , Physics Department
Other Numbering System Name
LIGO Document
Other Numbering System Identifier
P2100221