Gravitational wave searches for continuous-wave signals from neutron stars are especially challenging when the star's spin frequency is unknown a priori from electromagnetic observations and wanders stochastically under the action of internal (e.g. superfluid or magnetospheric) or external (e.g. accretion) torques. It is shown that frequency tracking by hidden Markov model (HMM) methods can be combined with existing maximum likelihood coherent matched filters like the F-statistic to surmount some of the challenges raised by spin wandering. Specifically it is found that, for an isolated, biaxial rotor whose spin frequency walks randomly, HMM tracking of the F-statistic output from coherent segments with duration T drift = 10 d over a total observation time of T obs = 1 yr can detect signals with wave strains h0 > 2 × 10 −26 at a noise level characteristic of the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (Advanced LIGO). For a biaxial rotor with randomly walking spin in a binary orbit, whose orbital period and semi-major axis are known approximately from electromagnetic observations, HMM tracking of the Bessel-weighted F-statistic output can detect signals with h0 > 8 × 10 −26 . An efficient, recursive, HMM solver based on the Viterbi algorithm is demonstrated, which requires ∼ 10 3 CPU-hours for a typical, broadband (0.5-kHz) search for the low-mass X-ray binary Scorpius X-1, including generation of the relevant F-statistic input. In a "realistic" observational scenario, Viterbi tracking successfully detects 41 out of 50 synthetic signals without spin wandering in Stage I of the Scorpius X-1 Mock Data Challenge convened by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration down to a wave strain of h0 = 1.1×10 −25 , recovering the frequency with a root-mean-square accuracy of ≤ 4.3 × 10 −3 Hz.

Results are presented from a semicoherent search for continuous gravitational waves from the brightest low-mass X-ray binary, Scorpius X-1, using data collected during the first Advanced LIGO observing run. The search combines a frequency domain matched filter (Bessel-weighted F-statistic) with a hidden Markov model to track wandering of the neutron star spin frequency. No evidence of gravitational waves is found in the frequency range 60–650 Hz. Frequentist 95% confidence strain upper limits, h95%0=4.0×10−25, 8.3×10−25, and 3.0×10−25 for electromagnetically restricted source orientation, unknown polarization, and circular polarization, respectively, are reported at 106 Hz. They are ≤10 times higher than the theoretical torque-balance limit at 106 Hz

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A hidden Markov model (HMM) scheme for tracking continuous-wave gravitational radiation from neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) with wandering spin is extended by introducing a frequency-domain matched filter, called the J -statistic, which sums the signal power in orbital sidebands coherently. The J -statistic is similar but not identical to the binary-modulated F-statistic computed by demodulation or resampling. By injecting synthetic LMXB signals into Gaussian noise characteristic of the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (Advanced LIGO), it is shown that the J -statistic HMM tracker detects signals with characteristic wave strain h0 ≥ 2 × 10 −26 in 370 d of data from two interferometers, divided into 37 coherent blocks of equal length. When applied to data from Stage I of the Scorpius X-1 Mock Data Challenge organised by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the tracker detects all 50 closed injections (h0 ≥ 6.84×10−26 ), recovering the frequency with a root-mean-square accuracy of ≤ 1.95×10 −5 Hz. Of the 50 injections, 43 (with h0 ≥ 1.09 × 10 −25 ) are detected in a single, coherent 10-d block of data. The tracker employs an efficient, recursive HMM solver based on the Viterbi algorithm, which requires ∼ 10 5 CPU-hours for a typical, broadband (0.5-kHz), LMXB search.[Version 6.21]

We present a systematic way of constructing a Doppler resilient sequence of Golay complementary waveforms for radar, for which the composite ambiguity function maintains ideal shape at small Doppler shifts. The idea is to determine a sequence of Golay pairs that annihilates the low-order terms of the Taylor expansion of the composite ambiguity function. The Prouhet-Thue-Morse sequence plays a key role in the construction of Doppler resilient sequences of Golay pairs. We extend this construction to multiple dimensions. In particular, we consider radar polarimetry, where the dimensions are realized by two orthogonal polarizations. We determine a sequence of two-by-two Alamouti matrices, where the entries involve Golay pairs and for which the matrix-valued composite ambiguity function vanishes at small Doppler shifts.