Upper Limits on the Rates of Binary Neutron Star and Neutron Star–black Hole Mergers From Advanced Ligo’s First Observing Run

Abstract

We report here the non-detection of gravitational waves from the merger of binary-neutron star systems and neutron star-black hole systems during the first observing run of the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitationalwave Observatory (LIGO). In particular, we searched for gravitational-wave signals from binary-neutron star systems with component masses Î , and no restriction on the black hole spin magnitude. We assess the sensitivity of the two LIGO detectors to these systems and find that they could have detected the merger of binary-neutron star systems with component mass distributions of 1.35±0.13 M e at a volume-weighted average distance of ∼70 Mpc, and for neutron star-black hole systems with neutron star masses of 1.4 M e and black hole masses of at least 5 M e , a volume-weighted average distance of at least ∼110 Mpc. From this we constrain with 90% confidence the merger rate to be less than 12,600Gpc −3 yr −1 for binary-neutron star systems and less than 3600Gpc −3 yr −1 for neutron star-black hole systems. We discuss the astrophysical implications of these results, which we find to be in conflict with only the most optimistic predictions. However, we find that if no detection of neutron star-binary mergers is made in the next two Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo observing runs we would place significant constraints on the merger rates. Finally, assuming a rate of -+ 10 7 20 Gpc −3 yr −1 , short gamma-ray bursts beamed toward the Earth, and assuming that all short gamma-ray bursts have binary-neutron star (neutron star-black hole) progenitors, we can use our 90% confidence rate upper limits to constrain the beaming angle of the gamma-ray burst to be greater than  -+ 2 . 3 1.1 1.7 (  -+ 4 . 3 1.9 3.1 ).

Binary Black Hole Mergers in the First Advanced LIGO Observing Run

“…[43]. These matched-filter searches are complemented by generic transient searches which are sensitive to BBH mergers with total mass of about 30M ⊙ or greater [61].…”

“…Searches for compact binary systems containing neutron stars are presented in Ref. [43], and searches for more massive black holes and unmodeled transient signals will be reported elsewhere. This paper is organized as follows: Section II provides an overview of the Advanced LIGO detectors during the first observing run, as well as the data used in the search.…”

Localization of binary neutron star mergers with second and third generation gravitational-wave detectors

“…Over the coming years, the sensitivity of the advanced LIGO and Virgo instruments will improve, and the KAGRA and LIGO India detectors will join the global network [4][5][6][7][8]. This network of advanced gravitational wave detectors is expected to observe many more BBH and BNS mergers, as well as GWs emitted during the merger of neutron star-black hole (NSBH) binaries [9,10]. Additionally, GWs emitted by nonsymmetric neutron stars, core-collapse supernovae, and other astrophysical transient events may be observed [11,12].…”

Propagation of gravitational waves in a cosmological background

“…New era of astrophysics and cosmology has arrived since the first detection of the gravitational wave (GW) event GW150914 reported by LIGO [1], and the observation of more GW events by LIGO and VIRGO [2][3][4][5][6]. With the current and the forthcoming GW experiments, including LISA [7], BBO [8], KAGRA [9], ET [10], Taiji [11,12] and Tian-Qin [13], the GWs have opened a new window to explore the nature of gravity [14][15][16][17].…”