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Beating the spin-down limit on gravitational wave emission from the Vela pulsar

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 10:49 authored by Buchner, S, Hotan, A, Jim PalfreymanJim Palfreyman
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 × 10–24 and 2.2 × 10–24, with 95% confidence. The third method, under the same hypothesis, produces a Bayesian upper limit of 2.1 × 10–24, with 95% degree of belief. These limits are below the indirect spin-down limit of 3.3 × 10–24 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 ~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.

History

Publication title

The Astrophysical Journal

Volume

737

Article number

93

Number

93

Pagination

1-16

ISSN

0004-637X

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

Institute of Physics Publishing Inc

Place of publication

United States

Rights statement

Copyright 2011 American Astronomical Society

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in the physical sciences

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