Search for the stochastic gravitational-wave background induced by primordial curvature perturbations in LIGO’s second observing run

Abstract

Primordial density perturbations in the radiation-dominated era of the early universe are expected to generate stochastic gravitational waves (GWs) due to nonlinear mode coupling. In this Letter, we report on a search for such a stochastic GW background in the data of the two LIGO detectors during their second observing run (O2). We focus on the primordial perturbations in the range of comoving wavenumbers 10¹⁶–10¹⁸ Mpc^-1 for which the stochastic background falls within the detectors' sensitivity band. We do not find any conclusive evidence of this stochastic signal in the data, and thus place the very first GW-based constraints on the amplitude of the power spectrum at these scales. We assume a log-normal shape for the power spectrum and Gaussian statistics for the primordial perturbations, and vary the width of the power spectrum to cover both narrow and broad spectra. Derived upper limits (95%) on the amplitude of the power spectrum are 0.01–0.1. As a byproduct, we are able to infer upper limits on the fraction of the universe's mass in ultralight primordial black holes (MPBH ≅ 10^-20–10^-19M⊙) at their formation time to be ≤10^-25.