Searching for a stochastic background of gravitational waves with the laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatory

Abbott, B. and Cantley, C.A., LIGO Scientific Collaboration (2007) Searching for a stochastic background of gravitational waves with the laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatory. Astrophysical Journal, 659 (2 I). pp. 918-930. ISSN 1538-4357 (https://doi.org/10.1086/511329)

[thumbnail of Abbot-etal-AJ-2007-stochastic-background-of-gravitational-waves-with-LIGO]
Preview
Text. Filename: Abbot_etal_2007_AJ_stochastic_background_of_gravitational_waves_with_LIGO.pdf
Final Published Version

Download (3MB)| Preview

Abstract

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has performed the fourth science run, S4, with significantly improved interferometer sensitivities with respect to previous runs. Using data acquired during this science run, we place a limit on the amplitude of a stochastic background of gravitational waves. For a frequency independent spectrum, the new Bayesian 90% upper limit is ΩGW × [H0/(72 km s−1 Mpc−1)]2 < 6.5 × 10-5. This is currently the most sensitive result in the frequency range 51-150 Hz, with a factor of 13 improvement over the previous LIGO result. We discuss the complementarity of the new result with other constraints on a stochastic background of gravitational waves, and we investigate implications of the new result for different models of this background.