Wide parameter search for isolated pulsars using the Hough transform

TL;DR

This paper presents a wide parameter search for gravitational waves from isolated pulsars using the Hough transform on LIGO data, demonstrating a robust and efficient method validated with hardware injections.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of the Hough transform for all-sky pulsar searches in gravitational wave data, enhancing detection robustness and computational efficiency.

Findings

Validated the search pipeline with hardware signal injections

Demonstrated the method's efficiency over large parameter spaces

Enabled comprehensive all-sky pulsar gravitational wave searches

Abstract

We use the Hough transform to analyze data from the second science run of the LIGO interferometers, to look for gravitational waves from isolated pulsars. We search over the whole sky and over a large range of frequencies and spin-down parameters. Our search method is based on the Hough transform, which is a semi-coherent, computationally efficient, and robust pattern recognition technique. We also present a validation of the search pipeline using hardware signal injections.