Search for gravitational waves from compact binary coalescence in LIGO and Virgo data from S5 and VSR1

Abstract

We report the results of the first search for gravitational waves from compact binary coalescence using data from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory and Virgo detectors. Five months of data were collected during the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory’s S5 and Virgo’s VSR1 science runs. The search focused on signals from binary mergers with a total mass between 2 and 35M⊙. No gravitational waves are identified. The cumulative 90%-confidence upper limits on the rate of compact binary coalescence are calculated for nonspinning binary neutron stars, black hole-neutron star systems, and binary black holes to be 8.7×10-3 yr-1 L10-1, 2.2×10-3 yr-1 L10-1, and 4.4×10-4 yr-1 L10-1, respectively, where L10 is 1010 times the blue solar luminosity. These upper limits are compared with astrophysical expectations.