Search for continuous gravitational waves from neutron stars in five globular clusters with a phase-tracking hidden Markov model in the third LIGO observing run

Abstract

A search is performed for continuous gravitational waves emitted by unknown neutron stars in five nearby globular clusters using data from the third Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) observing run, over the frequency range $100$--$800\,\mathrm{Hz}$. The search uses a hidden Markov model to track both the frequency and phase of the continuous wave signal from one coherent segment to the next. It represents the first time that a phase-tracking hidden Markov model has been used in a LIGO search. After applying vetoes to reject candidates consistent with non-Gaussian artifacts, no significant candidates are detected. Estimates of the strain sensitivity at 95\% confidence $h_{0,\mathrm{eff}}^{95\%}$ and corresponding neutron star ellipticity $\epsilon^{95\%}$ are presented. The best strain sensitivity, $h_{0,\mathrm{eff}}^{95\%} = 2.7 \times 10^{-26}$ at $211\,\mathrm{Hz}$, is achieved for the cluster NGC6544.