SEARCH FOR GRAVITATIONAL WAVE BURSTS FROM SIX MAGNETARS

Journal Article · Mon Jun 20 04:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/734/2/L35· OSTI ID:21562591

Abadie, J; Abbott, B P; Abbott, R; Adhikari, R; Anderson, S B; Arai, K; Araya, M C ^[1]; Abernathy, M ^[2]; Accadia, T ^[3]; Acernese, F ^[4]; Adams, C ^[5]; Affeldt, C; Allen, B ^[6]; Allen, G S ^[7]; Amador Ceron, E; Anderson, W G ^[8]; Amariutei, D; Arain, M A ^[9]; Amin, R S ^[10]; Antonucci, F ^[11]

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1. LIGO-California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
2. University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ (United Kingdom)
3. Laboratoire d'Annecy-le-Vieux de Physique des Particules (LAPP), Universite de Savoie, CNRS/IN2P3, F-74941 Annecy-Le-Vieux (France)
4. INFN, Sezione di Napoli, Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo, I-80126 Napoli (Italy)
5. LIGO-Livingston Observatory, Livingston, LA 70754 (United States)
6. Albert-Einstein-Institut, Max-Planck-Institut fuer Gravitationsphysik, D-30167 Hannover (Germany)
7. Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)
8. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53201 (United States)
9. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 (United States)
10. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 (United States)
11. INFN, Sezione di Roma, I-00185 Roma (Italy)

Soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) are thought to be magnetars: neutron stars powered by extreme magnetic fields. These rare objects are characterized by repeated and sometimes spectacular gamma-ray bursts. The burst mechanism might involve crustal fractures and excitation of non-radial modes which would emit gravitational waves (GWs). We present the results of a search for GW bursts from six galactic magnetars that is sensitive to neutron star f-modes, thought to be the most efficient GW emitting oscillatory modes in compact stars. One of them, SGR 0501+4516, is likely {approx}1 kpc from Earth, an order of magnitude closer than magnetars targeted in previous GW searches. A second, AXP 1E 1547.0-5408, gave a burst with an estimated isotropic energy >10{sup 44} erg which is comparable to the giant flares. We find no evidence of GWs associated with a sample of 1279 electromagnetic triggers from six magnetars occurring between 2006 November and 2009 June, in GW data from the LIGO, Virgo, and GEO600 detectors. Our lowest model-dependent GW emission energy upper limits for band- and time-limited white noise bursts in the detector sensitive band, and for f-mode ringdowns (at 1090 Hz), are 3.0 x 10{sup 44} d {sup 2}{sub 1} erg and 1.4 x 10{sup 47} d {sup 2}{sub 1} erg, respectively, where d{sub 1} = (d{sub 0501})/1 kpc and d{sub 0501} is the distance to SGR 0501+4516. These limits on GW emission from f-modes are an order of magnitude lower than any previous, and approach the range of electromagnetic energies seen in SGR giant flares for the first time.

• OSTI ID: 21562591
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 734; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
COSMIC GAMMA BURSTS
COSMIC RADIATION
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
EMISSION
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
NEUTRON STARS
PRIMARY COSMIC RADIATION
PULSARS
RADIATIONS
STARS