LIGO Document P070008-x0

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

Document #:
LIGO-P070008-x0
Document type:
P - Publications
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 gamma-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 rho=5.2. For a source at 15 kpc this requires an energy of 1.3×10-5M[sun]c2 to be emitted as gravitational waves.
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Notes and Changes:

Rev P070008-01-Z:
- Full document number: LIGO-P070008-01-Z
- Author(s): James Clark; I. S. Heng; Matt Pitkin; Graham Woan
- Document date: 2007-06-26
- Document received date: 2007-06-26
- Document entry date: 2007-06-26

Rev P070008-00-Z:
- Full document number: LIGO-P070008-00-Z
- Author(s): James Clark; I. S. Heng; Matt Pitkin; Graham Woan
- Document date: 2007-03-28
- Document received date: 2007-04-11
- Document entry date: 2007-04-11
Journal References:
Published in Phys Rev D vol. 76 pg. 043003 (13pp).

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