Weighing the evidence for a gravitational-wave background in the first International Pulsar Timing Array data challenge

In the last decade, the use of an ensemble of radio pulsars to constrain the characteristic strain caused by a stochastic gravitational wave background has advanced the cause of detection of very low frequency gravitational waves (GWs) significantly. This electromagnetic means of GW detection, called Pulsar Timing Array (PTA), is reviewed in this paper. The principle of operation of PTA, the current operating PTAs and their status are presented along with a discussion of the main challenges in the detection of GWs using PTA.

Download Full-text

On detection of the stochastic gravitational-wave background using the Parkes pulsar timing array

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18517.x ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 414 (2) ◽

pp. 1777-1787 ◽

Cited By ~ 46

Author(s):

D. R. B. Yardley ◽

W. A. Coles ◽

G. B. Hobbs ◽

J. P. W. Verbiest ◽

R. N. Manchester ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gravitational Wave ◽

Pulsar Timing ◽

Gravitational Wave Background ◽

Pulsar Timing Array

Download Full-text

Bayesian search for gravitational wave bursts in pulsar timing array data

Classical and Quantum Gravity ◽

10.1088/1361-6382/abf1c6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 38 (9) ◽

pp. 095012

Author(s):

Bence Bécsy ◽

Neil J Cornish

Keyword(s):

Gravitational Wave ◽

Array Data ◽

Pulsar Timing ◽

Wave Bursts ◽

Pulsar Timing Array

Download Full-text

Principles of Gravitational-Wave Detection with Pulsar Timing Arrays

Symmetry ◽

10.3390/sym13122418 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 2418

Author(s):

Michele Maiorano ◽

Francesco De Paolis ◽

Achille A. Nucita

Keyword(s):

Gravitational Wave ◽

Gravitational Waves ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Black Hole Binaries ◽

Pulsar Timing ◽

Time Correlations ◽

Array Detection ◽

Square Kilometer Array ◽

Gravitational Wave Background ◽

Pulsar Timing Array

Pulsar timing uses the highly stable pulsar spin period to investigate many astrophysical topics. In particular, pulsar timing arrays make use of a set of extremely well-timed pulsars and their time correlations as a challenging detector of gravitational waves. It turns out that pulsar timing arrays are particularly sensitive to ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves, which makes them complementary to other gravitational-wave detectors. Here, we summarize the basics, focusing especially on supermassive black-hole binaries and cosmic strings, which have the potential to form a stochastic gravitational-wave background in the pulsar timing array detection band, and the scientific goals on this challenging topic. We also briefly outline the recent interesting results of the main pulsar timing array collaborations, which have found strong evidence of a common-spectrum process compatible with a stochastic gravitational-wave background and mention some new perspectives that are particularly interesting in view of the forthcoming radio observatories such as the Five hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, the MeerKAT telescope, and the Square Kilometer Array.

Download Full-text

Null-stream analysis of Pulsar Timing Array data: localization of resolvable gravitational wave sources

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/sty892 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 477 (4) ◽

pp. 5447-5459 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Janna M Goldstein ◽

John Veitch ◽

Alberto Sesana ◽

Alberto Vecchio

Keyword(s):

Gravitational Wave ◽

Array Data ◽

Pulsar Timing ◽

Pulsar Timing Array

Download Full-text

Constraining the nanohertz gravitational wave background with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s174392131202354x ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 8 (S291) ◽

pp. 177-177

Author(s):

Ryan Shannon

Keyword(s):

Gravitational Wave ◽

Gravitational Waves ◽

Direct Detection ◽

Massive Black Hole ◽

Black Hole Binaries ◽

Pulsar Timing ◽

The Galaxy ◽

Gravitational Wave Background ◽

Pulsar Timing Array ◽

The Universe

AbstractThe direct detection of gravitational waves will usher in a new era of astrophysics, enabling the study of regions of the universe opaque to electromagnetic radiation or electromagnetically quiet. An ensemble of pulsars (referred to as a pulsar timing array) provides a set of clocks distributed across the Galaxy sensitive to gravitational waves with periods on the order of five years (frequencies of many nanohertz). Plausible source of gravitational waves in this frequency band include massive black hole binaries in the throes of mergers and oscillating cosmic strings. The stochastic gravitational wave background, the sum of gravitational waves emitted throughout the universe, is the most likely signal to be detected by a pulsar timing array.While the detection of gravitational waves will be a milestone in pulsar astronomy, a constraining limit on the strength of the gravitational wave background can be used to constrain cosmological models and early Universe physics. Here we present a new algorithm that can be used to constrain the strength of the GWB with a pulsar timing array. We then apply this technique to Parkes Pulsar Timing Array observations and place a new limit on the strength of the GWB. We conclude by discussing the astrophysical implications of this limit and the prospects for detecting gravitational waves with pulsars.

Download Full-text