Search for gravitational waves from binary black hole inspiral, merger and ringdown

TL;DR

This work performs the first search for gravitational waves from binary black hole coalescences using complete inspiral–merger–ringdown waveforms sampled over $M=25$–$100\,M_{\odot}$ and negligible spins, based on nearly two years of LIGO S5 data. It employs NR-calibrated IMR templates from Effective One-Body and phenomenological models to filter data and assess sensitivity, including a rigorous multi-detector coincidence and data-quality veto framework. No detections were found, but the analysis derives mass-dependent 90% upper limits on BBH merger rates, notably $R_{90\%}\le 2.0\ \mathrm{Mpc}^{-3}\ \mathrm{Myr}^{-1}$ for $19\!\le m_1,m_2\le 28\,M_{\odot}$, accounting for injections and waveform-systematic uncertainties. The results highlight the importance of spin effects and waveform-model fidelity for future high-mass BBH searches and set the stage for improvements in the advanced-detector era.

Abstract

We present the first modeled search for gravitational waves using the complete binary black hole gravitational waveform from inspiral through the merger and ringdown for binaries with negligible component spin. We searched approximately 2 years of LIGO data taken between November 2005 and September 2007 for systems with component masses of 1-99 solar masses and total masses of 25-100 solar masses. We did not detect any plausible gravitational-wave signals but we do place upper limits on the merger rate of binary black holes as a function of the component masses in this range. We constrain the rate of mergers for binary black hole systems with component masses between 19 and 28 solar masses and negligible spin to be no more than 2.0 per Mpc^3 per Myr at 90% confidence.

Figures (3)

• Figure 1: Example of the EOBNRv1 IMR waveforms used in this search for a $(25+25)\,M_\odot$ binary optimally located and oriented at $100$ Mpc in the time domain (top panel) and the frequency domain (bottom panel). The solid vertical lines mark the location of the Schwarzschild ISCO, which is the termination point for inspiral-only waveforms.
• Figure 2: The 90% confidence upper limit on the merger rate as a function of mass in units of $M_{\odot}$ (symmetric over $m_1$ and $m_2$). This image represents the rate limit in units of $\text{\,Mpc}^{-3}\text{\,Myr}^{-1}$. These limits can be converted to traditional units of $L_{10}^{-1}\text{\,Myr}^{-1}$ by dividing by $0.0198\,L_{10}\text{\,Mpc}^{-3}$LIGOS3S4Galaxies. Only bins with mass ratios $< 4:1$ have upper limits computed due to uncertainty in the waveform models for more asymmetric systems.
• Figure 3: Average range defined in \ref{['eq:range']} for the search in Mpc as a function of mass (symmetric over $m_1$ and $m_2$), assuming target waveforms that match the EOB and Phenomenological models.