Multi-Messenger Astrophysics with Pulsar Timing Arrays
Abstract
Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) are on the verge of detecting low-frequency gravitational waves (GWs) from supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs). With continued observations of a large sample of millisecond pulsars, PTAs will reach this major milestone within the next decade. Already, SMBHB candidates are being identified by electromagnetic surveys in ever-increasing numbers; upcoming surveys will enhance our ability to detect and verify candidates, and will be instrumental in identifying the host galaxies of GW sources. Multi-messenger (GW and electromagnetic) observations of SMBHBs will revolutionize our understanding of the co-evolution of SMBHs with their host galaxies, the dynamical interactions between binaries and their galactic environments, and the fundamental physics of accretion. Multi-messenger observations can also make SMBHBs 'standard sirens' for cosmological distance measurements out to . LIGO has already ushered in breakthrough insights in our knowledge of black holes. The multi-messenger detection of SMBHBs with PTAs will be a breakthrough in the years and beyond, and prepare us for LISA to help complete our views of black hole demographics and evolution at higher redshifts.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1903.07644,
title = {Multi-Messenger Astrophysics with Pulsar Timing Arrays},
author = {Luke Zoltan Kelley and Maria Charisi and Sarah Burke-Spolaor and Joseph Simon and Laura Blecha and Tamara Bogdanovic and Monica Colpi and Julie Comerford and Daniel J. D'Orazio and Massimo Dotti and Michael Eracleous and Matthew Graham and Jenny E. Greene and Zoltán Haiman and Kelly Holley-Bockelmann and Erin Kara and Bernard Kelly and S. Komossa and Shane L. Larson and Xin Liu and Chung-Pei Ma and Scott Noble and Vasileios Paschalidis and Roman R. Rafikov and Vikram Ravi and Jessie C. Runnoe and Alberto Sesana and Daniel Stern and Michael A. Strauss and Vivian U and Marta Volonteri and the NANOGrav Collaboration},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1903.07644},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
Submitted to the Astro2020 decadal review. This is one of five core white papers written by members of the NANOGrav Collaboration, see also: J.Cordes et al., S.R.Taylor et al., X.Siemens et al., and E.Fonseca et al