2009/04/30 by LIGO Scientific Collaboration, B. P. Abbott, B. Abbott +99
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #COSMIC cancer database #Cosmic string #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Geophysics and Gravity Measurements #Gravitational wave #Gravitational-wave astronomy #Gravitational-wave observatory #LIGO #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #String (physics) #Theoretical physics #astro-ph.CO
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.80.062002
published as Phys.Rev.D80:062002,2009 · 11 pages, 3 figures. Replaced with version submitted to PRD
arxiv created 2009/05/29 · openalex publication_date 2009/09/23 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We report on a matched-filter search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic string cusps using LIGO data from the fourth science run (S4) which took place in February and March 2005. No gravitational waves were detected in 14.9 days of data from times when all three LIGO detectors were operating. We interpret the result in terms of a frequentist upper limit on the rate of gravitational wave bursts and use the limits on the rate to constrain the parameter space (string tension, reconnection probability, and loop sizes) of cosmic string models. Many grand unified theory-scale models (with string tension G\ensuremathμ/c2\ensuremath≈10^\ensuremath-6) can be ruled out at 90% confidence for reconnection probabilities p\ensuremath≤10^\ensuremath-3 if loop sizes are set by gravitational back reaction.