Search for gravitational wave bursts from six magnetars
Date
2011
Authors
Hosken, D.
Munch, J.
Ottaway, D.
Veitch, P.
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Journal article
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Letters of the Astrophysical Journal, 2011; 734(2):L35-1-L35-9
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J. Abadie... D. J. Hosken... J. Munch... D. J. Ottaway... P. J. Veitch...et al.
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Abstract
Soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) are thought to be magnetars: neutron stars powered by extreme magnetic fields. These rare objects are characterized by repeated and sometimes spectacular gamma-ray bursts. The burst mechanism might involve crustal fractures and excitation of non-radial modes which would emit gravitational waves (GWs). We present the results of a search for GW bursts from six galactic magnetars that is sensitive to neutron star f-modes, thought to be the most efficient GW emitting oscillatory modes in compact stars. One of them, SGR 0501+4516, is likely 1kpc from Earth, an order of magnitude closer than magnetars targeted in previous GW searches. A second, AXP 1E 1547.0-5408, gave a burst with an estimated isotropic energy >10<sup>44</sup>erg which is comparable to the giant flares. We find no evidence of GWs associated with a sample of 1279 electromagnetic triggers from six magnetars occurring between 2006 November and 2009 June, in GW data from the LIGO, Virgo, and GEO600 detectors. Our lowest model-dependent GW emission energy upper limits for band- and time-limited white noise bursts in the detector sensitive band, and for f-mode ringdowns (at 1090Hz), are 3.0 × 10<sup>44</sup> d <sup>2</sup> <inf>1</inf>erg and 1.4 × 10 <sup>47</sup> d <sup>2</sup> <inf>1</inf>erg, respectively, where and d <inf>0501</inf> is the distance to SGR 0501+4516. These limits on GW emission from f-modes are an order of magnitude lower than any previous, and approach the range of electromagnetic energies seen in SGR giant flares for the first time. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
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Copyright 2011. The American Astronomical Society.