Upper Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Advanced LIGO's First Observing Run

Abstract : A wide variety of astrophysical and cosmological sources are expected to contribute to a stochastic gravitational-wave background. Following the observations of GW150914 and GW151226, the rate and mass of coalescing binary black holes appear to be greater than many previous expectations. As a result, the stochastic background from unresolved compact binary coalescences is expected to be particularly loud. We perform a search for the isotropic stochastic gravitational-wave background using data from Advanced LIGO's first observing run. The data display no evidence of a stochastic gravitational-wave signal. We constrain the dimensionless energy density of gravitational waves to be $\Omega_0<1.7\times 10^{-7}$ with 95% confidence, assuming a flat energy density spectrum in the most sensitive part of the LIGO band (20-86 Hz). This is a factor of ~33 times more sensitive than previous measurements. We also constrain arbitrary power-law spectra. Finally, we investigate the implications of this search for the background of binary black holes using an astrophysical model for the background.
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Journal articles
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http://hal.in2p3.fr/in2p3-01412187
Contributor : Claudine Bombar <>
Submitted on : Thursday, December 8, 2016 - 10:12:31 AM
Last modification on : Wednesday, January 13, 2021 - 9:41:22 AM

Citation

B.P. Abbott, T. Adams, R. Bonnand, D. Buskulic, M. Ducrot, et al.. Upper Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Advanced LIGO's First Observing Run. Physical Review Letters, American Physical Society, 2017, 118 (12), pp.121101. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.121101⟩. ⟨in2p3-01412187⟩

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