Authors

B. P. Abbott, California Institute of Technology
R. Abbott, California Institute of Technology
R. Adhikari, California Institute of Technology
P. Ajith, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
B. Allen, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
G. Allen, Stanford University
R. S. Amin, Louisiana State University
S. B. Anderson, California Institute of Technology
W. G. Anderson, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
M. A. Arain, University of Florida
M. Araya, California Institute of Technology
H. Armandula, California Institute of Technology
P. Armor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Y. Aso, California Institute of Technology
S. Aston, University of Birmingham
P. Aufmuth, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover
C. Aulbert, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
S. Babak, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
P. Baker, Montana State University
S. Ballmer, California Institute of Technology
C. Barker, LIGO Hanford
D. Barker, LIGO Hanford
B. Barr, University of Glasgow
P. Barriga, The University of Western Australia
L. Barsotti, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M. A. Barton, California Institute of Technology
I. Bartos, Columbia University
R. Bassiri, University of Glasgow
M. Bastarrika, University of Glasgow
B. Behnke, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
M. Benacquista, University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College
J. Betzwieser, California Institute of Technology
P. T. Beyersdorf, San Jose State University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-23-2009

Abstract

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. Many grand unified theory-scale models (with string tension Gμ/c2≈10-6) can be ruled out at 90% confidence for reconnection probabilities p≤10-3 if loop sizes are set by gravitational back reaction. © 2009 The American Physical Society.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology

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