Search for Gravitational-lensing Signatures in the Full Third Observing Run of the LIGO-Virgo Network
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(Published version)
Date
2024
Authors
Abbott, R.
Abe, H.
Acernese, F.
Ackley, K.
Adhicary, S.
Adhikari, N.
Adhikari, R.X.
Adkins, V.K.
Adya, V.B.
Affeldt, C.
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Journal article
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The Astrophysical Journal: an international review of astronomy and astronomical physics, 2024; 970(2):191-1-191-28
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The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration, and the KAGRA Collaboration
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Abstract
Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions to gravitational wave (GW) signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology, and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by (1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, (2) calculating the degree of overlap among the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, (3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms among pairs of signals, and (4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by (1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and (2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the nondetection of GW lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects.
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© 2024. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.