Constraints from LIGO O3 Data on Gravitational-wave Emission Due to R-modes in the Glitching Pulsar PSR J0537-6910


Abbott R., Abbott T. D., Abraham S., Acernese F., Ackley K., Adams A., ...More

ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, no.1, 2021 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Publication Date: 2021
  • Doi Number: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac0d52
  • Journal Name: ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Aerospace Database, INSPEC, zbMATH, DIALNET
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: No

Abstract

We present a search for continuous gravitational-wave emission due to r-modes in the pulsar PSR J0537-6910 using data from the LIGO-Virgo Collaboration observing run O3. PSR J0537-6910 is a young energetic X-ray pulsar and is the most frequent glitcher known. The inter-glitch braking index of the pulsar suggests that gravitational-wave emission due to r-mode oscillations may play an important role in the spin evolution of this pulsar. Theoretical models confirm this possibility and predict emission at a level that can be probed by ground-based detectors. In order to explore this scenario, we search for r-mode emission in the epochs between glitches by using a contemporaneous timing ephemeris obtained from NICER data. We do not detect any signals in the theoretically expected band of 86-97 Hz, and report upper limits on the amplitude of the gravitational waves. Our results improve on previous amplitude upper limits from r-modes in J0537-6910 by a factor of up to 3 and place stringent constraints on theoretical models for r-mode-driven spin-down in PSR J0537-6910, especially for higher frequencies at which our results reach below the spin-down limit defined by energy conservation.