A Gamma-ray Pulsar Timing Array Constrains the Nanohertz Gravitational Wave Background
Abstract
After large galaxies merge, their central supermassive black holes are expected to form binary systems whose orbital motion generates a gravitational wave background (GWB) at nanohertz frequencies. Searches for this background utilize pulsar timing arrays, which perform long-term monitoring of millisecond pulsars (MSPs) at radio wavelengths. We use 12.5 years of Fermi Large Area Telescope data to form a gamma-ray pulsar timing array. Results from 35 bright gamma-ray pulsars place a 95\% credible limit on the GWB characteristic strain of at 1 yr, which scales as the observing time span . This direct measurement provides an independent probe of the GWB while offering a check on radio noise models.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2204.05226,
title = {A Gamma-ray Pulsar Timing Array Constrains the Nanohertz Gravitational Wave Background},
author = {M. Ajello and W. B. Atwood and L. Baldini and J. Ballet and G. Barbiellini and D. Bastieri and R. Bellazzini and A. Berretta and B. Bhattacharyya and E. Bissaldi and R. D. Blandford and E. Bloom and R. Bonino and P. Bruel and R. Buehler and E. Burns and S. Buson and R. A. Cameron and P. A. Caraveo and E. Cavazzuti and N. Cibrario and S. Ciprini and C. J. Clark and I. Cognard and J. Coronado-Blázquez and M. Crnogorcevic and H. Cromartie and K. Crowter and S. Cutini and F. D'Ammando and S. D. Gaetano and F. d. Palma and S. W. Digel and N. D. Lalla and F. Fan. Dirirsa and L. D. Venere and A. Domínguez and E. C. Ferrara and A. Fiori and A. Franckowiak and Y. Fukazawa and S. Funk and P. Fusco and V. Gammaldi and F. Gargano and D. Gasparrini and N. Giglietto and F. Giordano and M. Giroletti and D. Green and I. A. Grenier and L. Guillemot and S. Guiriec and M. Gustafsson and A. K. Harding and E. Hays and J. W. Hewitt and D. Horan and X. Hou and G. Jóhannesson and M. J. Keith and M. Kerr and M. Kramer and M. Kuss and S. Larsson and L. Latronico and J. Li and F. Longo and F. Loparco and M. N. Lovellette and P. Lubrano and S. Maldera and A. Manfreda and G. Martí-Devesa and M. N. Mazziotta and I. Mereu and P. F. Michelson and N. Mirabal and W. Mitthumsiri and T. Mizuno and M. E. Monzani and A. Morselli and M. Negro and L. Nieder and R. Ojha and N. Omodei and M. Orienti and E. Orlando and J. F. Ormes and D. Paneque and A. Parthasarathy and Z. Pei and M. Persic and M. Pesce-Rollins and R. Pillera and H. Poon and T. A. Porter and G. Principe and J. L. Racusin and S. Rainò and R. Rando and B. Rani and S. M. Ransom and P. S. Ray and M. Razzano and S. Razzaque and A. Reimer and O. Reimer and J. Roy and M. Sánchez-Conde and P. M. Sa. Parkinson and J. Scargle and L. Scotton and D. Serini and C. Sgrò and E. J. Siskind and D. A. Smith and G. Spandre and R. Spiewak and P. Spinelli and I. Stairs and D. J. Suson and S. J. Swihart and S. Tabassum and J. B. Thayer and G. Theureau and D. F. Torres and E. Troja and J. Valverde and Z. Wadiasingh and K. Wood and G. Zaharijas},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2204.05226},
year = {2022}
}
Comments
3 figures in the main text. 3 figures and 8 tables are in the supplementary material