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Astrophysics, High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, astro-ph.HE,General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology, gr-qc
Abstract:
We present results of an all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves
(CWs), which can be produced by fast-spinning neutron stars with an asymmetry
around their rotation axis, using data from the second observing run of the
Advanced LIGO detectors. We employ three different semi-coherent methods
($\textit{FrequencyHough}$, $\textit{SkyHough}$, and $\textit{Time-Domain
$\mathcal{F}$-statistic}$) to search in a gravitational-wave frequency band
from 20 to 1922 Hz and a first frequency derivative from $-1\times10^{-8}$ to
$2\times10^{-9}$ Hz/s. None of these searches has found clear evidence for a CW
signal, so we present upper limits on the gravitational-wave strain amplitude
$h_0$ (the lowest upper limit on $h_0$ is $1.7\times10^{-25}$ in the 123-124 Hz
region) and discuss the astrophysical implications of this result. This is the
most sensitive search ever performed over the broad range of parameters
explored in this study.