Search for Gravitational Waves from a Nearby Neutron Star Using Barycentric Resampling

Author: Patel, Pinkesh Kiritbhai

Year: 2011

Degree: Dissertation (Ph.D.)

Advisor: Weinstein, Alan Jay

Committee Members: Weinstein, Alan Jay; Hirata, Christopher M.; Hitlin, David G.; Siemens, Xavier; Cutler, Curt J.

Option: Physics

DOI: 10.7907/00AG-ZF69

Abstract

Rapidly spinning neutron stars in our Galactic neighborhood are promising sources of quasi-monochromatic continuous gravitational waves observable by the current LIGO detectors. I describe a search done on the LIGO S5 data, looking for an isolated neutron star hypothesized to be at a distance of about 100 parsecs. This kind of search is computationally bound and is made possible by the implementation of barycentric resampling, which is described here as well. I also describe the work done at the Hanford LIGO site, while taking data for the Astrowatch program.

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