Gravitational wave burst search in the Virgo C7 data

F. Acernese , M. Alshourbagy , F. Antonucci , S. Aoudia (1) , K. G. Arun (2) , P. Astone , G. Ballardin , F. Barone , L. Barsotti , M. Barsuglia (3) , Th. S. Bauer , S. Bigotta , S. Birindelli (1) , M.-A. Bizouard (2) , C. Boccara , François Bondu (1) , L. Bonelli , L. Bosi , S. Braccini , C. Bradaschia , A. Brillet (1) , V. Brisson (2) , H. J. Bulten , D. Buskulic (4) , G. Cagnoli , E. Calloni , E. Campagna , B. Canuel , F. Carbognani , L. Carbone , F. Cavalier (2) , R. Cavalieri , G. Cella , E. Cesarini , E. Chassande-Mottin (5) , S. Chatterji , N. Christensen , A.-C. Clapson (2) , F. Cleva (1) , E. Coccia , M. Colombini , C. Corda , A. Corsi , F. Cottone , J.-P. Coulon (1) , E. Cuoco , S. d'Antonio , A. Dari , V. Dattilo , M. Davier (2) , R. de Rosa , M. del Prete , L. Di Fiore , A. Di Lieto , M. Di Paolo Emilio , A. Di.Virgilio , V. Fafone , I. Ferrante , F. Fidecaro , I. Fiori , R. Flaminio (6) , J.-D. Fournier (1) , S. Frasca , F. Frasconi , L. Gammaitoni , F. Garufi , E. Genin , A. Gennai , A. Giazotto , M. Granata (7) , V. Granata (4) , C. Greverie (1) , G. Guidi , H. Heitmann (1) , P. Hello (2) , S. Hild (2) , D. Huet , P. La. Penna , M. Laval (1) , N. Leroy (2) , N. Letendre (4) , M. Lorenzini , V. Loriette , G. Losurdo , J.-M. Mackowski (6) , E. Majorana , N. Man (1) , M. Mantovani , F. Marchesoni , F. Marion (4) , J. Marque , F. Martelli , A. Masserot (4) , F. Menzinger , Christine Michel (6) , L. Milano , Y. Minenkov , Subhabrata Mitra (1) , Julien Moreau , N. Morgado (6) , M. Mohan , A. Morgia , S. Mosca , B. Mours (4) , I. Neri , F. Nocera , G. Pagliaroli , C. Palomba , F. Paoletti , S. Pardi , A. Pasqualetti , R. Passaquieti , D. Passuello , G. Persichetti , F. Piergiovanni , L. Pinard (6) , R. Poggiani , M. Punturo , P. Puppo , O. Rabaste (7) , P. Rapagnani , T. Regimbau , F. Ricci , A. Rocchi , L. Rolland (4) , R. Romano , P. Ruggi , B. Sassolas (6) , D. Sentenac , B. L. Swinkels , R. Terenzi , A. Toncelli , M. Tonelli , E. Tournefier (4) , F. Travasso , G. Vajente , J. F. J. van Den.Brand , S. van Der Putten , D. Verkindt (4) , F. Vetrano , A. Vicere , J.-Y. Vinet (1) , H. Vocca , M. Was (2) , M. Yvert (4)

1 ARTEMIS - Astrophysique Relativiste Théories Expériences Métrologie Instrumentation Signaux
2 LAL - Laboratoire de l'Accélérateur Linéaire
3 APC - Cosmologie
4 LAPP - Laboratoire d'Annecy de Physique des Particules
5 APC-Gravitation - APC - Gravitation
6 LMA - Laboratoire des matériaux avancés
7 APC (UMR_7164) - AstroParticule et Cosmologie

A search for gravitational wave burst events has been performed with the Virgo C7 commissioning run data that have been acquired in September 2005 over 5 days. It focused on unmodeled short duration signals in the frequency range 150 Hz to 2 kHz. A search aimed at detecting the GW emission from the merger and ring-down phases of binary black hole coalescences was also carried out. An extensive understanding of the data was required to be able to handle a burst search using the output of only one detector. A 90% confidence level upper limit on the number of expected events given the Virgo C7 sensitivity curve has been derived as a function of the signal strength, for unmodeled gravitational wave searches. The sensitivity of the analysis presented is, in terms of the root sum square strain amplitude, h_rss sime 10−20 Hz−1/2. This can be interpreted in terms of a frequentist upper limit on the rate {\cal{R}}_{90\%} of detectable gravitational wave bursts at the level of 1.1 events per day at a 90% confidence level. From the binary black hole search, we obtained the distance reach at 50% and 90% efficiency as a function of the total mass of the final black hole. The maximal detection distance for non-spinning high and equal mass black hole binary system obtained by this analysis in C7 data is sime2.9 ± 0.1 Mpc for a detection efficiency of 50% for a binary of total mass 80 Modot.

Domaines: Relativité Générale et Cosmologie Quantique [gr-qc]

F. Acernese, M. Alshourbagy, F. Antonucci, S. Aoudia, K. G. Arun, et al.. Gravitational wave burst search in the Virgo C7 data. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 2009, 26, pp.085009. ⟨10.1088/0264-9381/26/8/085009⟩. ⟨in2p3-00373791⟩