Document Type
Article
Date
4-15-2011
Language
English
Disciplines
Physics
Description/Abstract
We present direct upper limits on continuous gravitational wave emission from the Vela pulsar using data from the Virgo detector's second science run. These upper limits have been obtained using three independent methods that assume the gravitational wave emission follows the radio timing. Two of the methods produce frequentist upper limits for an assumed known orientation of the star's spin axis and value of the wave polarization angle of, respectively, $1.9\ee{-24}$ and $2.2\ee{-24}$, with 95% confidence. The third method, under the same hypothesis, produces a Bayesian upper limit of $2.1\ee{-24}$, with 95% degree of belief. These limits are below the indirect {\it spin-down limit} of $3.3\ee{-24}$ for the Vela pulsar, defined by the energy loss rate inferred from observed decrease in Vela's spin frequency, and correspond to a limit on the star ellipticity of $\sim 10^{-3}$. Slightly less stringent results, but still well below the spin-down limit, are obtained assuming the star's spin axis inclination and the wave polarization angles are unknown.
Recommended Citation
Brown, Duncan; Abadie, J.; Capano, Collin; Garofoli, J. A.; and Lundgren, A. P., "Beating the Spin-Down Limit on Gravitational Wave Emission from the Vela Pulsar" (2011). Physics - All Scholarship. 237.
https://surface.syr.edu/phy/237
Source
Harvested from Arxiv.org
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Additional Information
37 pages, 6 figures corrected typo in the Authors field More information at http://arxiv.org/abs/1104.2712
First author and Syracuse University authors listed, for additional authors see the articles.