# All-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from isolated neutron stars using Advanced LIGO O2 data

## TL;DR

This study conducted the most sensitive all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from isolated neutron stars using Advanced LIGO O2 data, employing three semi-coherent methods across a broad frequency range, but found no signals and set upper limits on strain.

## Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive search using three different semi-coherent methods over a wide frequency and spin-down range, setting new upper limits on gravitational wave strain.

## Key findings

- No continuous gravitational wave signals detected.
- Established the most stringent upper limits on strain amplitude.
- Provided astrophysical implications of non-detections.

## Abstract

We present results of an all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves (CWs), which can be produced by fast-spinning neutron stars with an asymmetry around their rotation axis, using data from the second observing run of the Advanced LIGO detectors. We employ three different semi-coherent methods ($\textit{FrequencyHough}$, $\textit{SkyHough}$, and $\textit{Time-Domain $\mathcal{F}$-statistic}$) to search in a gravitational-wave frequency band from 20 to 1922 Hz and a first frequency derivative from $-1\times10^{-8}$ to $2\times10^{-9}$ Hz/s. None of these searches has found clear evidence for a CW signal, so we present upper limits on the gravitational-wave strain amplitude $h_0$ (the lowest upper limit on $h_0$ is $1.7\times10^{-25}$ in the 123-124 Hz region) and discuss the astrophysical implications of this result. This is the most sensitive search ever performed over the broad range of parameters explored in this study.