End-to-end algorithm for hierarchical area searches for long-duration GW sources for GEO 600

摘要

We describe a hierarchical, highly parallel computer algorithm to performsearches for unknown sources of continuous gravitational waves -- spinningneutron stars in the Galaxy -- over wide areas of the sky and wide frequencybandwidths. We optimize the algorithm for an observing period of 4 months andan available computing power of 20 Gflops, in a search for neutron starsresembling millisecond pulsars. We show that, if we restrict the search to thegalactic plane, the method will detect any star whose signal is stronger than15 times the $1\sigma$ noise level of a detector over that search period. Sinceon grounds of confidence the minimum identifiable signal should be about 10times noise, our algorithm does only 50% worse than this and runs on a computerwith achievable processing speed.