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Upper limits for gravitational radiation from supermassive coalescing binariesWe report a search for waves from supermassive coalescing binaries using a 10.5 day Pioneer 10 data set taken in 1988. Depending on the time to coalescence, the initial frequency of the wave, and the length of the observing interval, a coalescing binary waveform appears in the tracking record either as a sinusoid, a 'chirp', or as a more complicated signal. We searched our data for coalescing binary waveforms in all three regimes. We successfully detected a (fortuitous) 'chirp' signal caused by the varying spin rate of the spacecraft; this nicely served as a calibration of the data quality and as a test of our analysis procedures on real data. We did not detect any signals of astronomical origin in the millihertz band to an upper limit of about 7 x 10 exp -15 (rms amplitude). This is the first time spacecraft Doppler data have been analyzed for coalescing binary waveforms, and the upper limits reported here are the best to date for any waveform in the millihertz band.
Document ID
19930051601
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Anderson, J. D.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Armstrong, J. W.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Lau, E. L.
(JPL Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
May 1, 1993
Publication Information
Publication: Astrophysical Journal, Part 1
Volume: 408
Issue: 1
ISSN: 0004-637X
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
93A35598
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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