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Constraints on Cosmic Strings from the LIGO-Virgo Gravitational-Wave DetectorsCosmic strings can give rise to a large variety of interesting astrophysical phenomena. Among them, powerful bursts of gravitational waves (GWs) produced by cusps are a promising observational signature. In this Letter we present a search for GWs from cosmic string cusps in data collected by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors between 2005 and 2010, with over 625 days of live time. We find no evidence of GW signals from cosmic strings. From this result, we derive new constraints on cosmic string parameters, which complement and improve existing limits from previous searches for a stochastic background of GWs from cosmic microwave background measurements and pulsar timing data. In particular, if the size of loops is given by the gravitational backreaction scale, we place upper limits on the string tension (Newton's Constant x mass per unit length) below 10(exp −8) in some regions of the cosmic string parameter space.
Document ID
20140017791
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Aasi, J.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Abadie, J.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Abbott, B.P.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Abbott, R.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Abbott, T.
(Louisiana State Univ. Baton Rouge, LA, United States)
Abernathy, M.R.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Accadia, T.
(Grenoble-1 Univ. Annecy, France)
Adams, C.
(LIGO Livingston Observatory Livingston, LA, United States)
Adams, T.
(Cardiff Univ. United Kingdom)
Adhikari, R.X.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Affeldt, C.
(Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Gravitationsphysik, Albert-Einstein-Institut Golm, Germany)
Agathos, M.
(Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Aggarwal, N.
(Massachusetts Inst. of Tech. Cambridge, MA, United States)
Aguiar, O.D.
(Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espacias Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil)
Ajith, P.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Allen, B.
(Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Gravitationsphysik, Albert-Einstein-Institut Golm, Germany)
Allocca, A.
(Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Pisa, Italy)
Ceron, E.A.
(Wisconsin Univ. Milwaukee, WI, United States)
Amariutei, D.
(Florida Univ. Gainesville, FL, United States)
Anderson, S.B.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Blackburn, L.
(Maryland Univ. College Park, MD, United States)
Camp, J.B.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Gehrels, N.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Graff, P.B.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Kanner, J.B.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
December 30, 2014
Publication Date
April 4, 2014
Publication Information
Publication: Physical Review Letters
Publisher: American Physical Society
Volume: 112
Issue: 13
Subject Category
Physics Of Elementary Particles And Fields
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN15392
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG06EO90A
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
Virgo Collaboration
Collaboration
LIGO Scientific
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