Search for Intermediate Mass Black Hole Binaries in the First Observing Run of Advanced LIGO

Authors

B. P. Abbott, California Institute of Technology
R. Abbott, Louisiana State University
T. D. Abbott, University of Salerno
F. Acernese, Complesso Universitario di Monte sant'Angelo
K. Ackley, University of Florida
C. Adams, Universite de Savoie
T. Adams, University of Sannio
P. Addesso, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
R. X. Adhikari, University of Mississippi
V. B. Adya, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
C. Affeldt, National Institute for Subatomic Physics
M. Afrough, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
B. Agarwal, National Institute for Space Research
K. Agatsuma, Gran Sasso Science Institute
N. Aggarwal, National Institute for Nuclear Physics
O. D. Aguiar, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics India
L. Aiello, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
A. Ain, Leibniz University Hannover
B. Allen, University of Pisa
G. Allen, Sezione di Pisa
A. Allocca, University of Glasgow
H. Almoubayyed, Australian National University
P. A. Altin, Institut National de Physique Nucleaire et de Physique des Particules
A. Amato, ComUE Paris-Saclay
A. Ananyeva, California State University Fullerton
S. B. Anderson, European Gravitational Observatory
W. G. Anderson, Chennai Mathematical Institute
S. Antier, University of Rome Tor Vergata
S. Appert, University of Hamburg
K. Arai, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Marc Favata, Montclair State UniversityFollow
Shaon Ghosh, Montclair State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-15-2017

Journal / Book Title

Physical Review D

Abstract

During their first observational run, the two Advanced LIGO detectors attained an unprecedented sensitivity, resulting in the first direct detections of gravitational-wave signals produced by stellar-mass binary black hole systems. This paper reports on an all-sky search for gravitational waves (GWs) from merging intermediate mass black hole binaries (IMBHBs). The combined results from two independent search techniques were used in this study: the first employs a matched-filter algorithm that uses a bank of filters covering the GW signal parameter space, while the second is a generic search for GW transients (bursts). No GWs from IMBHBs were detected; therefore, we constrain the rate of several classes of IMBHB mergers. The most stringent limit is obtained for black holes of individual mass 100 M, with spins aligned with the binary orbital angular momentum. For such systems, the merger rate is constrained to be less than 0.93 Gpc-3 yr-1 in comoving units at the 90% confidence level, an improvement of nearly 2 orders of magnitude over previous upper limits.

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevD.96.022001

MSU Digital Commons Citation

Abbott, B. P.; Abbott, R.; Abbott, T. D.; Acernese, F.; Ackley, K.; Adams, C.; Adams, T.; Addesso, P.; Adhikari, R. X.; Adya, V. B.; Affeldt, C.; Afrough, M.; Agarwal, B.; Agatsuma, K.; Aggarwal, N.; Aguiar, O. D.; Aiello, L.; Ain, A.; Allen, B.; Allen, G.; Allocca, A.; Almoubayyed, H.; Altin, P. A.; Amato, A.; Ananyeva, A.; Anderson, S. B.; Anderson, W. G.; Antier, S.; Appert, S.; Arai, K.; Favata, Marc; and Ghosh, Shaon, "Search for Intermediate Mass Black Hole Binaries in the First Observing Run of Advanced LIGO" (2017). Department of Physics and Astronomy Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 128.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/physics-astron-facpubs/128

Published Citation

Abbott, B. P., Abbott, R., Abbott, T. D., Acernese, F., Ackley, K., Adams, C., ... & Capano, C. D. (2017). Search for intermediate mass black hole binaries in the first observing run of Advanced LIGO. Physical Review D, 96(2), 022001.