The International Pulsar Timing Array: First Data Release

By J. Verbiest, L. Lentati, G. Hobbs, R. V. Haasteren, P. Demorest, G. Janssen, Jiaxing Wang, G. Desvignes, R. N. Caballero, M. Keith and 82 more. 2016

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The highly stable spin of neutron stars can be exploited for a variety of (astro)physical investigations. In particular, arrays of pulsars with rotational periods of the order of milliseconds can be used to detect correlated signals such as those caused by gravitational waves. Three such 'pulsar timing arrays' (PTAs) have been set up around the world over the past decades and collectively form the 'International' PTA (IPTA). In this paper, we describe the first joint analysis of the data from the three regional PTAs, i.e. of the first IPTA data set. We describe the available PTA data, the approach presently followed for its combination and suggest improvements for future PTA research. Particular attention is paid to subtle details (such as underestimation of measurement uncertainty and long-period noise) that have often been ignored but which become important in this unprecedentedly large and inhomogeneous data set. We identify and describe in detail several factors that complicate IPTA research and provide recommendations for future pulsar timing efforts. The first IPTA data release presented here (and available on-line) is used to demonstrate the IPTA's potential of improving upon gravitational-wave limits

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/34cb7ee85823a20029c30f715fdc970d00363af5

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Citations in the corpus

A NICER View of PSR J0030+0451: Evidence for a Global-scale Multipolar Magnetic Field (2019, background): “…of Ṗ ≈ 1.02×10−20 s/s are typical for the known population of MSPs.2 PSR J0030+0451 is a target in two pulsar timing array projects, the European Pulsar Timing Array (Verbiest et al. 2016) and the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav; Arzoumanian et al. 2018).”
The NANOGrav 11 Year Data Set: Pulsar-timing Constraints on the Stochastic Gravitational-wave Background (2018, neutral): “Additionally, the International Pulsar Timing Array (IPTA, Verbiest et al. (2016)) exists as an umbrella consortium for datasharing, coordinated timing campaigns, and joint GW analysis.”
Massive Black Hole Binary Mergers in Dynamical Galactic Environments (2016, methodology): “Additionally, the International PTA (IPTA, Hobbs et al. 2010) aims to combine the data sets from each individual project, and has recently produced their first public data release (Verbiest et al. 2016).”
Unveiling the gravitational universe at μ-Hz frequencies (2019, background): “At even lower frequencies, pulsar timing arrays (PTAs, [271]) and the square kilometre array (SKA, [92]) will probe the 10−9 < f < 10−7 Hz window, unveiling the adiabatic inspiral of the most massive BHs in the Universe, inhabiting the cores of”
The local nanohertz gravitational-wave landscape from supermassive black hole binaries (2017, methodology): “IPTA predictions We add four pulsars per year to the exist- ing 47 IPTA pulsars, chosen from sky locations in the field of view of the current IPTA telescopes.”
Searching for isotropic stochastic gravitational-wave background in the international pulsar timing array second data release (2021, positive): “It consists of 65 pulsars and provides a better sky coverage compared to the IPTA DR1 [ 34 ] .”