Search for Gravitational Waves from Intermediate Mass Binary Black Holes

TL;DR

This study conducted a search for gravitational waves from intermediate mass black hole mergers using LIGO and Virgo data from 2005-2007, setting upper limits on merger rates due to no detections.

Contribution

First weakly modeled burst search targeting non-spinning IMBH mergers in the 100-450 solar mass range using early LIGO and Virgo data.

Findings

No plausible gravitational wave signals detected.

Upper limit on merger rate density is 0.13 per Mpc^3 per Myr at 90% confidence.

Constraints on astrophysical models of IMBH mergers.

Abstract

We present the results of a weakly modeled burst search for gravitational waves from mergers of non-spinning intermediate mass black holes (IMBH) in the total mass range 100--450 solar masses and with the component mass ratios between 1:1 and 4:1. The search was conducted on data collected by the LIGO and Virgo detectors between November of 2005 and October of 2007. No plausible signals were observed by the search which constrains the astrophysical rates of the IMBH mergers as a function of the component masses. In the most efficiently detected bin centered on 88+88 solar masses, for non-spinning sources, the rate density upper limit is 0.13 per Mpc^3 per Myr at the 90% confidence level.