Abstract

During their first observational run, the two Advanced LIGO detectors attained an unprecedented sensitivity, resulting in the first direct detections of gravitational-wave signals produced by stellar-mass binary black hole systems. This paper reports on an all-sky search for gravitational waves (GWs) from merging intermediate mass black hole binaries (IMBHBs). The combined results from two independent search techniques were used in this study: the first employs a matched-filter algorithm that uses a bank of filters covering the GW signal parameter space, while the second is a generic search for GW transients (bursts). No GWs from IMBHBs were detected; therefore, we constrain the rate of several classes of IMBHB mergers. The most stringent limit is obtained for black holes of individual mass , with spins aligned with the binary orbital angular momentum. For such systems, the merger rate is constrained to be less …

Date

July 15, 2017

Authors

Benjamin P Abbott, Rich Abbott, Thomas D Abbott, Fausto Acernese, Kendall Ackley, Carl Adams, Thomas Adams, Paolo Addesso, Rana X Adhikari, Vaishali B Adya, Christoph Affeldt, Mohammad Afrough, Bhanu Agarwal, Kazuhiro Agatsuma, Nancy Aggarwal, Odylio D Aguiar, Lorenzo Aiello, Anirban Ain, Bruce Allen, Gabrielle Allen, Annalisa Allocca, Husni Almoubayyed, Paul A Altin, A Amato, Alena Ananyeva, Stuart B Anderson, Warren G Anderson, Sarah Antier, Stephen Appert, Koji Arai, Melody C Araya, Joseph S Areeda, Nicolas Arnaud, Kg G Arun, Stefano Ascenzi, Gregory Ashton, M Ast, Stuart M Aston, Pia Astone, Peter Aufmuth, Carsten Aulbert, K AultONeal, A Avila-Alvarez, Stanislav Babak, Philippe Bacon, Maria KM Bader, Sangwook Bae, Paul T Baker, Francesca Baldaccini, Giulio Ballardin, Stefan W Ballmer, Sharan Banagiri, Juan C Barayoga, Sheena E Barclay, Barry C Barish, David Barker, Fabrizio Barone, Bryan Barr, Lisa Barsotti, Matteo Barsuglia, Daniel Barta, Jeffrey Bartlett, Imre Bartos, Riccardo Bassiri, Andrea Basti, James C Batch, Christoph Baune, M Bawaj, Marco Bazzan, Bence Bécsy, Christian Beer, Michal Bejger, Imene Belahcene, Angus S Bell, Beverly K Berger, Gerald Bergmann, Christopher PL Berry, Diego Bersanetti, Alessandro Bertolini, J Betzwieser, S Bhagwat, R Bhandare, IA Bilenko, G Billingsley, CR Billman, J Birch, IA Birney, O Birnholtz, S Biscans, A Bisht, M Bitossi, C Biwer, MA Bizouard, JK Blackburn, J Blackman, CD Blair, DG Blair, RM Blair, S Bloemen, O Bock, N Bode, M Boer, G Bogaert, A Bohe, F Bondu, R Bonnand, BA Boom, R Bork, V Boschi, S Bose, Y Bouffanais, A Bozzi, C Bradaschia, PR Brady, VB Braginsky, Marica Branchesi, JE Brau, T Briant, A Brillet, M Brinkmann, V Brisson, P Brockill, JE Broida, AF Brooks, DA Brown, DD Brown, NM Brown, S Brunett, CC Buchanan, A Buikema, T Bulik, HJ Bulten, A Buonanno, D Buskulic, C Buy, RL Byer, M Cabero, L Cadonati, G Cagnoli, C Cahillane, J Calderón Bustillo, TA Callister, E Calloni, JB Camp, M Canepa, P Canizares, KC Cannon, H Cao, J Cao, CD Capano

Journal

Physical Review D

Volume

96

Issue

2

Pages

022001

Publisher

American Physical Society