Source Tracking for Sco X-1

TL;DR

This paper introduces a source tracking method for gravitational wave detection from Sco X-1, combining data from multiple detectors to reconstruct signals without prior waveform knowledge, enabling broader search capabilities.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel source tracking approach using coherent network analysis to detect gravitational waves from Sco X-1 without assuming specific signal models.

Findings

Method successfully reconstructs polarization waveforms at Sco X-1's location.

Simulations show effectiveness for burst and short periodic signals.

Potential to detect a wide range of gravitational wave signals.

Abstract

Sco X-1, the brightest low mass X-ray binary, is likely to be a source for gravitational wave emission. In one mechanism, emission of a gravitational wave arrests the increase in spin frequency due to the accretion torque in a low mass X-ray binary. Since the gravitational waveform is unknown, a detection method assuming no apriori knowledge of the signal is preferable. In this paper, we propose to search for a gravitational wave from Sco X-1 using a {{\it source tracking}} method based on a coherent network analysis. In the method, we combine data from several interferometric gravitational wave detectors taking into account of the direction to Sco X-1, and reconstruct two polarization waveforms at the location of Sco X-1 in the sky as Sco X-1 is moving. The source tracking method opens up the possibility of searching for a wide variety of signals. We perform Monte Carlo simulations and show results for bursts, modeled, short duration periodic sources using a simple excess power and a matched filter method on the reconstructed signals.