Search for intermediate mass black hole binaries in the first and second observing runs of the Advanced LIGO and Virgo network

LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

32 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Gravitational-wave astronomy has been firmly established with the detection of gravitational waves from the merger of ten stellar-mass binary black holes and a neutron star binary. This paper reports on the all-sky search for gravitational waves from intermediate mass black hole binaries in the first and second observing runs of the Advanced LIGO and Virgo network. The search uses three independent algorithms: two based on matched filtering of the data with waveform templates of gravitational-wave signals from compact binaries, and a third, model-independent algorithm that employs no signal model for the incoming signal. No intermediate mass black hole binary event is detected in this search. Consequently, we place upper limits on the merger rate density for a family of intermediate mass black hole binaries. In particular, we choose sources with total masses M=m1+m2ϵ[120,800] M and mass ratios q=m2/m1ϵ[0.1,1.0]. For the first time, this calculation is done using numerical relativity waveforms (which include higher modes) as models of the real emitted signal. We place a most stringent upper limit of 0.20 Gpc-3 yr-1 (in comoving units at the 90% confidence level) for equal-mass binaries with individual masses m1,2=100 M and dimensionless spins χ1,2=0.8 aligned with the orbital angular momentum of the binary. This improves by a factor of ∼5 that reported after Advanced LIGO's first observing run.

Original languageEnglish
Article number064064
Pages (from-to)1-18
Number of pages18
JournalPhysical Review D
Volume100
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Sept 2019

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) for the construction and operation of the LIGO Laboratory and Advanced LIGO as well as the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) of the United Kingdom, the Max-Planck-Society (MPS), and the State of Niedersachsen/Germany for support of the construction of Advanced LIGO and construction and operation of the GEO600 detector. Additional support for Advanced LIGO was provided by the Australian Research Council. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, for the construction and operation of the Virgo detector and the creation and support of the EGO consortium. The authors also gratefully acknowledge research support from these agencies as well as by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of India, the Department of Science and Technology, India, the Science & Engineering Research Board, India, the Ministry of Human Resource Development, India, the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación, the Vicepresidència i Conselleria d’Innovació, Recerca i Turisme and the Conselleria d’Educació i Universitat del Govern de les Illes Balears, the Conselleria d’Educació, Investigació, Cultura i Esport de la Generalitat Valenciana, the National Science Centre of Poland, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, the Russian Science Foundation, the European Commission, the European Regional Development Funds, the Royal Society, the Scottish Funding Council, the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund, the Lyon Institute of Origins, the Paris Île-de-France Region, the National Research, Development and Innovation Office Hungary, the National Research Foundation of Korea, Industry Canada and the Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council Canada, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations, and Communications, the International Center for Theoretical Physics South American Institute for Fundamental Research, the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Leverhulme Trust, the Research Corporation, the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, and the Kavli Foundation. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the NSF, STFC, MPS, INFN, CNRS, and the State of Niedersachsen/Germany for provision of computational resources. APPENDIX A:

FundersFunder number
Not addedST/N005422/1, ST/N00003X/1, ST/N005406/2, ST/I006269/1, ST/K000845/1, ST/N000633/1, ST/N000072/1, ST/J00166X/1, ST/N005430/1
National Science Foundation1707965, 1708081, 1921006, 1806824, 1912632, 1806885, 1707835, 1726215, 1806165, 1806990, 1912648
Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Kavli Foundation
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
College of Natural Resources and Sciences, Humboldt State University
Institut des Origines de Lyon
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation
Science and Technology Facilities CouncilST/H002006/1
Leverhulme Trust
Royal Society
Scottish Funding Council
Scottish Universities Physics Alliance
European Commission
Australian Research Council
Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Science and Engineering Research Board
Russian Foundation for Basic Research
Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Generalitat Valenciana
Hungarian Scientific Research Fund
National Research Foundation of Korea
Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
Narodowe Centrum Nauki
Ministry of Education, India
Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Russian Science Foundation
European Regional Development Fund
Universitat de les Illes Balears
Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, Inovações e Comunicações
Nemzeti Kutatási, Fejlesztési és Innovaciós Alap
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Search for intermediate mass black hole binaries in the first and second observing runs of the Advanced LIGO and Virgo network'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this