We report on a matched-filter search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic string cusps using LIGO data from the fourth science run (S4) which took place in February and March 2005. No gravitational waves were detected in 14.9 days of data from times when all three LIGO detectors were operating. We interpret the result in terms of a frequentist upper limit on the rate of gravitational wave bursts and use the limits on the rate to constrain the parameter space (string tension, reconnection probability, and loop sizes) of cosmic string models.
@article{arxiv.0904.4718,
title = {First LIGO search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic (super)strings},
author = {LIGO Scientific Collaboration and B. Abbott},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0904.4718},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
11 pages, 3 figures. Replaced with version submitted to PRD