Search for Gravitational-Wave Bursts from Soft Gamma Repeaters
B. Abbott, California Institute of Technology
R. Abbott, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
R. Adhikari, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
P. Ajith, Stanford University
B. Allen, Louisiana State University
G. Allen, University of Florida
R. Amin, Columbia University
S. B. Anderson, University of Birmingham
W. G. Anderson, Leibniz University Hannover
M. A. Arain, Carleton College
M. Araya, National Science Foundation
H. Armandula, University of Glasgow
P. Armor, University of Western Australia
Y. Aso, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
S. Aston, San Jose State University
P. Aufmuth, Lomonosov Moscow State University
C. Aulbert, Washington State University Pullman
S. Babak, University of Oregon
S. Ballmer, Syracuse University
H. Bantilan, University of Maryland
B. C. Barish, University of Massachusetts Boston
C. Barker, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
D. Barker, University of Sannio
B. Barr, Charles Sturt University
P. Barriga, Cardi University
M. A. Barton, University of Salerno
I. Bartos, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
M. Bastarrika, Pennsylvania State University
K. Bayer, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics India
J. Betzwieser, University of Texas at Brownsville
Abstract
We present a LIGO search for short-duration gravitational waves (GWs) associated with soft gamma ray repeater (SGR) bursts. This is the first search sensitive to neutron star f modes, usually considered the most efficient GW emitting modes. We find no evidence of GWs associated with any SGR burst in a sample consisting of the 27 Dec. 2004 giant flare from SGR 1806-20 and 190 lesser events from SGR 1806-20 and SGR 1900+14. The unprecedented sensitivity of the detectors allows us to set the most stringent limits on transient GW amplitudes published to date. We find upper limit estimates on the model-dependent isotropic GW emission energies (at a nominal distance of 10 kpc) between 3×1045 and 9×1052 erg depending on waveform type, detector antenna factors and noise characteristics at the time of the burst. These upper limits are within the theoretically predicted range of some SGR models.
