Upper limits on the strength of periodic gravitational waves from PSR J1939+2134

TL;DR

This paper establishes upper limits on gravitational wave emissions from pulsar PSR J1939+2134 using LIGO data, employing both frequency and time domain analysis methods to constrain wave strength.

Contribution

It introduces two independent analysis techniques for setting direct upper limits on gravitational waves from known pulsars, enhancing detection sensitivity.

Findings

Strain amplitude from PSR J1939+2134 is less than a few times 10^{-22}.

Both analysis methods yield consistent upper limits.

Results improve constraints on gravitational wave emission from this pulsar.

Abstract

The first science run of the LIGO and GEO gravitational wave detectors presented the opportunity to test methods of searching for gravitational waves from known pulsars. Here we present new direct upper limits on the strength of waves from the pulsar PSR J1939+2134 using two independent analysis methods, one in the frequency domain using frequentist statistics and one in the time domain using Bayesian inference. Both methods show that the strain amplitude at Earth from this pulsar is less than a few times $10^{-22}$.