Results from Einstein@Home supernova remnant search published

The results of a new Einstein@Home search in public LIGO data have been published in The Astrophysical Journal: “Deep Einstein@Home search for Continuous Gravitational Waves from the Central Compact Objects in the Supernova Remnants Vela Jr. and G347.3-0.5 using LIGO public data”. The paper is also available on the arXiv preprint server.

Our work describes a “directed search” in data from LIGO's second and third observing runs (O2 and O3). We searched for continuous gravitational waves emitted by spinning deformed or oscillating neutron stars left behind in the Vela Jr. and G347.3-0.5 supernova remnants. Since the sky positions of these neutron stars are known, we do not have to spend computing time on searching for them. This allows us to “dig deeper” into the data and detect fainter signals that we might otherwise miss. Our dedicated webpage has more information about the differences between Einstein@Home's all-sky, directed, and targeted gravitational-wave searches.

Among other things, the results provide the strongest constraints yet on gravitational-wave emission from the neutron star in G347.3-0.5 and its deformation. Since we found no continuous gravitational waves, a rapidly spinning neutron star in this supernova remnant can differ from a perfect sphere by no more than one part in a million.

Many thanks to all of you who make this work possible by donating cycles from your computers!

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Posted on behalf of M. Alessandra Papa

https://www.aei.mpg.de/continuouswaves