Search for Gravitational Waves from Low Mass Compact Binary Coalescence in 186 Days of LIGO's Fifth Science Run ligo-p0900009-v8 (original) (raw)

We report on a search for gravitational waves from coalescing compact binaries using LIGO observations between November 14, 2006 and May 18, 2007. This search targeted binaries with total mass between 2 and 35 M⊙ and a minimum component mass of 1 M⊙. No gravitational-wave signals were detected during our observations and so we report upper limits on the rate of compact binary coalescence as a function of the binary's mass. Assuming a compact binary object population with a Gaussian mass distribution representing binary neutron star systems, binary black hole systems and black hole-neutron star binary systems, we find the 90%-confidence upper limit on the rate of coalescences to be 1.4 × 10 −2 yr −1 L −1 10 , 7.3 × 10 −4 yr −1 L −1 10 , and 3.6 × 10 −3 yr −1 L −1 10 respectively, where L10 is 10 10 times the blue solar luminosity. PACS numbers: 95.85.Sz, 04.80.Nn, 07.05.Kf, 97.60.Jd, 97.60.Lf, 97.80.-d