Constraining the nanohertz gravitational wave background with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array
Abstract
The 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.
- Publication:
-
Neutron Stars and Pulsars: Challenges and Opportunities after 80 years
- Pub Date:
- March 2013
- DOI:
- 10.1017/S174392131202354X
- Bibcode:
- 2013IAUS..291..177S