Upper limits on a stochastic background of gravitational waves

Abstract

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory has performed a third science run with much improved sensitivities of all three interferometers. We present an analysis of approximately 200 hours of data acquired during this run, used to search for a stochastic background of gravitational radiation. We place upper bounds on the energy density stored as gravitational radiation for three different spectral power laws. For the flat spectrum, our limit of 0 < 8.4 × 10 -4 in the 69-156 Hz band is ∼10 5 times lower than the previous result in this frequency range. © 2005 The American Physical Society.