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Nature 460, 990-994 (20 August 2009) | doi:10.1038/nature08278; Received 20 May 2009; Accepted 30 June 2009

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An upper limit on the stochastic gravitational-wave background of cosmological origin

The LIGO Scientific Collaboration & The Virgo Collaboration

  1. *LIGO — California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
  2. †INFN, ‡Sezione di Napoli; §Università di Napoli 'Federico II' Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo, I-80126 Napoli; ||Università di Salerno, Fisciano, I-84084 Salerno, Italy.
  3. *Albert-Einstein-Institut, Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, D-30167 Hannover, Germany.
  4. *University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201, USA.
  5. *Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
  6. †INFN, ‡Sezione di Pisa; §Università di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa; ||Università di Siena, I-53100 Siena, Italy.
  7. *Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA.
  8. †INFN, ‡Sezione di Roma; §Università 'La Sapienza', I-00185 Roma, Italy.
  9. †Departement Artemis, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, CNRS, F-06304 Nice, France.
  10. *University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
  11. †LAL, Université Paris-Sud, IN2P3/CNRS, F-91898 Orsay, France.
  12. *University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
  13. *Leibniz Universität Hannover, D-30167 Hannover, Germany.
  14. *Albert-Einstein-Institut, Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, D-14476 Golm, Germany.
  15. *Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA.
  16. †European Gravitational Observatory (EGO), I-56021 Cascina (Pi), Italy.
  17. *LIGO — Hanford Observatory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
  18. *University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.
  19. *University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
  20. *LIGO — Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
  21. †AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC), CNRS-UMR 7164-IN2P3-Observatoire de Paris-Université Denis Diderot-Paris VII F-75205 Paris- CEA; DSM/IRSU F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
  22. *Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
  23. †‡Nikhef, National Institute for Subatomic Physics, P.O. Box 41882, 1009 DB Amsterdam; §The Netherlands VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
  24. *The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, Brownsville, Texas 78520, USA.
  25. *San Jose State University, San Jose, California 95192, USA.
  26. *Moscow State University, Moscow 119992, Russia.
  27. †ESPCI, CNRS, F-75005 Paris, France.
  28. *LIGO — Livingston Observatory, Livingston, Louisiana 70754, USA.
  29. *Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164, USA.
  30. †INFN, ‡Sezione di Perugia; §Università di Perugia, I-6123 Perugia; ||Università di Camerino, I-62032, Camerino, Italy.
  31. *University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA.
  32. *Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK.
  33. *Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA.
  34. *Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, HSIC, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0QX, UK.
  35. *University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
  36. †Laboratoire d'Annecy-le-Vieux de Physique des Particules (LAPP), IN2P3/CNRS, Université de Savoie, F-74941 Annecy-le-Vieux, France.
  37. *University of Massachusetts – Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA.
  38. †INFN, ‡Sezione di Firenze, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino; §Università degli Studi di Firenze, I-50121, Firenze; ||Università degli Studi di Urbino 'Carlo Bo', I-61029 Urbino, Italy.
  39. *NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
  40. *University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
  41. *University of Sannio at Benevento, I-82100 Benevento, Italy.
  42. *The University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi 38677, USA.
  43. *Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678, Australia.
  44. *Caltech-CaRT, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
  45. *Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota 55057, USA.
  46. *The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.
  47. †INFN, ‡Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata; §Università di Roma Tor Vergata; ||Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI) INAF, I-00133 Roma; ¶Università dell'Aquila, I-67100 L'Aquila, Italy.
  48. *Eötvös University, ELTE 1053 Budapest, Hungary.
  49. *University of Salerno, 84084 Fisciano (Salerno), Italy.
  50. *The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.
  51. *The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
  52. *Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune 411007, India.
  53. *Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70813, USA.
  54. †INFN, ‡Gruppo Collegato di Trento and §Università di Trento, I-38050 Povo, Trento, Italy; INFN, ||Sezione di Padova and ¶Università di Padova, I-35131 Padova, Italy.
  55. *California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
  56. †Laboratoire des Matériaux Avancés (LMA), IN2P3/CNRS, F-69622 Villeurbanne, Lyon, France.
  57. *University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA.
  58. *The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
  59. *Australian National University, Canberra 0200, Australia.
  60. *Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, Arizona 86301, USA.
  61. *University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
  62. *University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
  63. *University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
  64. *Universitat de les Illes Balears, E-07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
  65. *Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
  66. *National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan.
  67. *Institute of Applied Physics, Nizhny Novgorod, 603950, Russia.
  68. *University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UK.
  69. *Loyola University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, USA.
  70. *Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York 14456, USA.
  71. *Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana 71272, USA.
  72. *Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan 49104, USA.
  73. *Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California 94928, USA.
  74. *Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas 78212, USA.
  75. *Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
  76. *Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, Louisiana 70402, USA.
  77. Lists of participants and their affiliations appear at the end of the paper.
  78. *The LIGO Scientific Collaboration.
  79. †The Virgo Collaboration.

Correspondence to: Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to V.M. (Email: mandic@physics.umn.edu).

Top

A stochastic background of gravitational waves is expected to arise from a superposition of a large number of unresolved gravitational-wave sources of astrophysical and cosmological origin. It should carry unique signatures from the earliest epochs in the evolution of the Universe, inaccessible to standard astrophysical observations1. Direct measurements of the amplitude of this background are therefore of fundamental importance for understanding the evolution of the Universe when it was younger than one minute. Here we report limits on the amplitude of the stochastic gravitational-wave background using the data from a two-year science run of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory2 (LIGO). Our result constrains the energy density of the stochastic gravitational-wave background normalized by the critical energy density of the Universe, in the frequency band around 100 Hz, to be <6.9 times 10-6 at 95% confidence. The data rule out models of early Universe evolution with relatively large equation-of-state parameter3, as well as cosmic (super)string models with relatively small string tension4 that are favoured in some string theory models5. This search for the stochastic background improves on the indirect limits from Big Bang nucleosynthesis1, 6 and cosmic microwave background7 at 100 Hz.

  1. *LIGO — California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
  2. †INFN, ‡Sezione di Napoli; §Università di Napoli 'Federico II' Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo, I-80126 Napoli; ||Università di Salerno, Fisciano, I-84084 Salerno, Italy.
  3. *Albert-Einstein-Institut, Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, D-30167 Hannover, Germany.
  4. *University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201, USA.
  5. *Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
  6. †INFN, ‡Sezione di Pisa; §Università di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa; ||Università di Siena, I-53100 Siena, Italy.
  7. *Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA.
  8. †INFN, ‡Sezione di Roma; §Università 'La Sapienza', I-00185 Roma, Italy.
  9. †Departement Artemis, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, CNRS, F-06304 Nice, France.
  10. *University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
  11. †LAL, Université Paris-Sud, IN2P3/CNRS, F-91898 Orsay, France.
  12. *University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
  13. *Leibniz Universität Hannover, D-30167 Hannover, Germany.
  14. *Albert-Einstein-Institut, Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik, D-14476 Golm, Germany.
  15. *Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA.
  16. †European Gravitational Observatory (EGO), I-56021 Cascina (Pi), Italy.
  17. *LIGO — Hanford Observatory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
  18. *University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.
  19. *University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
  20. *LIGO — Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
  21. †AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC), CNRS-UMR 7164-IN2P3-Observatoire de Paris-Université Denis Diderot-Paris VII F-75205 Paris- CEA; DSM/IRSU F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
  22. *Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
  23. †‡Nikhef, National Institute for Subatomic Physics, P.O. Box 41882, 1009 DB Amsterdam; §The Netherlands VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
  24. *The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, Brownsville, Texas 78520, USA.
  25. *San Jose State University, San Jose, California 95192, USA.
  26. *Moscow State University, Moscow 119992, Russia.
  27. †ESPCI, CNRS, F-75005 Paris, France.
  28. *LIGO — Livingston Observatory, Livingston, Louisiana 70754, USA.
  29. *Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164, USA.
  30. †INFN, ‡Sezione di Perugia; §Università di Perugia, I-6123 Perugia; ||Università di Camerino, I-62032, Camerino, Italy.
  31. *University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA.
  32. *Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK.
  33. *Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, USA.
  34. *Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, HSIC, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0QX, UK.
  35. *University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
  36. †Laboratoire d'Annecy-le-Vieux de Physique des Particules (LAPP), IN2P3/CNRS, Université de Savoie, F-74941 Annecy-le-Vieux, France.
  37. *University of Massachusetts – Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA.
  38. †INFN, ‡Sezione di Firenze, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino; §Università degli Studi di Firenze, I-50121, Firenze; ||Università degli Studi di Urbino 'Carlo Bo', I-61029 Urbino, Italy.
  39. *NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
  40. *University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
  41. *University of Sannio at Benevento, I-82100 Benevento, Italy.
  42. *The University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi 38677, USA.
  43. *Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678, Australia.
  44. *Caltech-CaRT, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
  45. *Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota 55057, USA.
  46. *The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.
  47. †INFN, ‡Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata; §Università di Roma Tor Vergata; ||Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI) INAF, I-00133 Roma; ¶Università dell'Aquila, I-67100 L'Aquila, Italy.
  48. *Eötvös University, ELTE 1053 Budapest, Hungary.
  49. *University of Salerno, 84084 Fisciano (Salerno), Italy.
  50. *The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.
  51. *The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
  52. *Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune 411007, India.
  53. *Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70813, USA.
  54. †INFN, ‡Gruppo Collegato di Trento and §Università di Trento, I-38050 Povo, Trento, Italy; INFN, ||Sezione di Padova and ¶Università di Padova, I-35131 Padova, Italy.
  55. *California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
  56. †Laboratoire des Matériaux Avancés (LMA), IN2P3/CNRS, F-69622 Villeurbanne, Lyon, France.
  57. *University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA.
  58. *The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
  59. *Australian National University, Canberra 0200, Australia.
  60. *Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, Arizona 86301, USA.
  61. *University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
  62. *University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
  63. *University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
  64. *Universitat de les Illes Balears, E-07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
  65. *Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
  66. *National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan.
  67. *Institute of Applied Physics, Nizhny Novgorod, 603950, Russia.
  68. *University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UK.
  69. *Loyola University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, USA.
  70. *Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York 14456, USA.
  71. *Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana 71272, USA.
  72. *Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan 49104, USA.
  73. *Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California 94928, USA.
  74. *Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas 78212, USA.
  75. *Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
  76. *Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, Louisiana 70402, USA.
  77. Lists of participants and their affiliations appear at the end of the paper.
  78. *The LIGO Scientific Collaboration.
  79. †The Virgo Collaboration.

Correspondence to: Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to V.M. (Email: mandic@physics.umn.edu).

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