Abstract Details

Name: Tanazza Khanam
Affiliation: IUCAA, Pune
Conference ID: ASI2019_38
Title : Accreting Neutron Stars As Continuous Gravitational Wave Sources
Authors and Co-Authors : Tanazza Khanam and Varun Bhalerao
Abstract Type : Poster
Abstract Category : Stars, ISM and Galaxy
Abstract : Recent direct observations of gravitational waves have been seen in rare transient mergers (black hole-black hole, neutron star-neutron stars). However, these direct detections of gravitational waves are also predicted from accreting neutron stars, which would serve as continuous gravitational waves sources. There exist many such systems in our galaxy itself, which are emitting gravitational waves and with the advancement in technology, we would not need to wait for mergers to happen in order to detect gravitational waves as the number of mergers being detected is very less. The main reason of generation of gravitational waves from such systems is asymmetry of mass, leading to ellipticity and internal oscillations. Using the current available data of accreting Low-Mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) from AstroSat’s Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM), we quantify the detectability for known accreting NSs. The detectability depends on the spin and orbital parameters of NSs and if these persistently bright sources emit gravitational waves at a rate matching the torque from accretion, then they would be detectable by Advanced LIGO as well. My work involved in identifying most promising targets through data analysis of SSM’s data and listing specific actions that would lead to significant improvement in the detection probability. The ephemeris of accreting NSs will aid the search of continuous gravitational waves from such sources and a report of the same has been submitted to IndIGO-An Indian Gravitational Wave Collaboration.