Abstract

Wepresent a LIGO search for short-duration gravitational waves (GWs) associatedwith soft gamma ray repeater (SGR) bursts. This is thefirst search sensitive to neutron star f modes, usually consideredthe most efficient GW emitting modes. We find no evidenceof GWs associated with any SGR burst in a sampleconsisting of the 27 Dec. 2004 giant flare from SGR1806-20 and 190 lesser events from SGR 1806-20 and SGR1900+14. The unprecedented sensitivity of the detectors allows us toset the most stringent limits on transient GW amplitudes publishedto date. We find upper limit estimates on the model-dependentisotropic GW emission energies (at a nominal distance of 10 kpc)between 3×1045 and 9×1052 erg depending on waveform type, detectorantenna factors and noise characteristics at the time of theburst. These upper limits are within the theoretically predicted rangeof some SGR models.