Stochastic background of gravitational waves generated by a cosmological population of young, rapidly rotating neutron stars

Abstract

We estimate the spectral properties of the stochastic background of gravitational radiation emitted by a cosmological population of hot, young, rapidly rotating neutron stars. Their formation rate as a function of redshift is deduced from an observation-based determination of the star formation history in the Universe, and the gravitational energy is assumed to be radiated during the spin-down phase associated to the newly discovered r-mode instability. We calculate the overall signal produced by the ensemble of such neutron stars, assuming various cosmological backgrounds. We find that the spectral strain amplitude has a maximum $\approx (2-4)\times 10^{-26} {Hz}^{-1/2}$, at frequencies $\approx (30-60)$ Hz, while the corresponding closure density, $h^2 \Omega_{GW}$, has a maximum amplitude plateau of $\approx (2.2-3.3) \times 10^{-8}$ in the frequency range $(500-1700)$ Hz. We compare our results with a preliminary analysis done by Owen et al. (1998), and discuss the detectability of this background.