Evidence-based search method for gravitational waves from neutron star ring-downs

James Clark, Ik Siong Heng, Matthew Pitkin, and Graham Woan
Phys. Rev. D 76, 043003 – Published 8 August 2007

Abstract

The excitation of quadrupolar quasinormal modes in a neutron star leads to the emission of a short, distinctive, burst of gravitational radiation in the form of a decaying sinusoid or “ring-down.” We present a Bayesian analysis method which incorporates relevant prior information about the source and known instrumental artifacts to conduct a robust search for the gravitational wave emission associated with pulsar glitches and soft γ-ray repeater flares. Instrumental transients are modeled as sine-Gaussian and their evidence, or marginal likelihood, is compared with that of Gaussian white noise and ring-downs via the “odds-ratio.” Tests using simulated data with a noise spectral density similar to the LIGO interferometer around 1 kHz yield 50% detection efficiency and 1% false alarm probability for ring-down signals with signal-to-noise ratio ρ=5.2. For a source at 15 kpc this requires an energy of 1.3×105Mc2 to be emitted as gravitational waves.

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  • Received 29 March 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.76.043003

©2007 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

James Clark*, Ik Siong Heng, Matthew Pitkin, and Graham Woan§

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Kelvin Building, Glasgow G12 8QQ, United Kingdom

  • *jclark@astro.gla.ac.uk
  • siong@astro.gla.ac.uk
  • matthew@astro.gla.ac.uk
  • §graham@astro.gla.ac.uk

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Issue

Vol. 76, Iss. 4 — 15 August 2007

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