Submitting Campus
Prescott
Department
Physics and Astronomy
Document Type
Article
Publication/Presentation Date
1-19-2018
Abstract/Description
We present results from the first directed search for nontensorial gravitational waves. While general relativity allows for tensorial (plus and cross) modes only, a generic metric theory may, in principle, predict waves with up to six different polarizations. This analysis is sensitive to continuous signals of scalar, vector, or tensor polarizations, and does not rely on any specific theory of gravity. After searching data from the first observation run of the advanced LIGO detectors for signals at twice the rotational frequency of 200 known pulsars, we find no evidence of gravitational waves of any polarization. We report the first upper limits for scalar and vector strains, finding values comparable in magnitude to previously published limits for tensor strain. Our results may be translated into constraints on specific alternative theories of gravity.
Publication Title
Physical Review Letters
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.031104
Publisher
American Physical Society
Scholarly Commons Citation
Abbott, B. P., AultONeal, K., Gaudio, S., Gill, K., Hughey, B., Pratt, J. W., Schmidt, E., Schwalbe, S. G., Szczepańczyk, M. J., Zanolin, M., & al., e. (2018). First Search for Nontensorial Gravitational Waves From Known Pulsars. Physical Review Letters, 120(3). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.031104
