Method to search for inspiraling planetary-mass ultracompact binaries using the generalized frequency-Hough transform in LIGO O3a data

Abstract

Gravitational waves from subsolar mass primordial black holes could be detected in LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA data. Here, we apply a method originally designed to look for rapidly spinning-down neutron stars, the generalized frequency-Hough transform, to search for planetary-mass primordial black holes using data from the first half of the third observing run of advanced LIGO. In this companion paper to Miller et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 111401 (2024)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.133.111401], in which the main results of our search are presented, we delve into the details of the search methodology, the choices we have made regarding the parameter space to explore, the follow-up procedure we use to confirm or reject possible candidates returned in our search, and a comparison of our analytic procedure of generating upper limits to those obtained through injections.