NANOGrav 15年数据集:针对超大质量黑洞双星的定向引力波搜索
摘要
我们 presenting the first targeted searches for continuous gravitational waves (CWs) from 114 active galactic nuclei (AGN) that may host supermassive black hole binaries, using the NANOGrav 15 yr data set. By incorporating electromagnetic priors on sky location, distance, redshift, and CW frequency, our strain and chirp mass upper limits are typically improved by a factor of (median 2.2) relative to all-sky limits at the same frequency. Bayesian comparisons against a model including only a Hellings-Downs correlated background disfavors a CW signal for all targets, with a mean Bayes factor of . Two targets have Bayes factors slightly above unity, but coherence tests, random targeting experiments, and a conservative accounting of the 114-target trials factor all indicate that they are consistent with noise. We use these two candidates as worked examples to illustrate an end-to-end targeted CW search analysis and a suite of follow up tests that future promising candidates would need to pass. We find that the electromagnetic interpretations of both candidates are ambiguous, and we update the constraints on a putative binary in 3C 66B, ruling out part of its previously allowed parameter space. Ultimately, our results demonstrate the current sensitivity of targeted pulsar timing array searches for CWs and define a roadmap for future multimessenger CW detections.
引用
@article{arxiv.2508.16534,
title = {The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Targeted Searches for Supermassive Black Hole Binaries},
author = {Nikita Agarwal and Gabriella Agazie and Akash Anumarlapudi and Anne M. Archibald and Zaven Arzoumanian and Jeremy G. Baier and Paul T. Baker and Bence Becsy and Laura Blecha and Adam Brazier and Paul R. Brook and Sarah Burke-Spolaor and Rand Burnette and Robin Case and J. Andrew Casey-Clyde and Yu-Ting Chang and Maria Charisi and Shami Chatterjee and Tyler Cohen and Paolo Coppi and James M. Cordes and Neil J. Cornish and Fronefield Crawford and H. Thankful Cromartie and Kathryn Crowter and Megan E. DeCesar and Paul B. Demorest and Heling Deng and Lankeswar Dey and Timothy Dolch and Daniel J. D'Orazio and Ellis Eisenberg and Elizabeth C. Ferrara and William Fiore and Emmanuel Fonseca and Gabriel E. Freedman and Emiko C. Gardiner and Nate Garver-Daniels and Peter A. Gentile and Kyle A. Gersbach and Joseph Glaser and Matthew J. Graham and Deborah C. Good and Kayhan Gultekin and C. J. Harris and Jeffrey S. Hazboun and Forrest Hutchison and Ross J. Jennings and Aaron D. Johnson and Megan L. Jones and David L. Kaplan and Luke Zoltan Kelley and Matthew Kerr and Joey S. Key and Nima Laal and Michael T. Lam and William G. Lamb and Bjorn Larsen and T. Joseph W. Lazio and Natalia Lewandowska and Tingting Liu and Duncan R. Lorimer and Jing Luo and Ryan S. Lynch and Chung-Pei Ma and Dustin R. Madison and Cayenne Matt and Alexander McEwen and James W. McKee and Maura A. McLaughlin and Natasha McMann and Bradley W. Meyers and Patrick M. Meyers and Chiara M. F. Mingarelli and Andrea Mitridate and Priyamvada Natarajan and Cherry Ng and David J. Nice and Stella Koch Ocker and Ken D. Olum and Timothy T. Pennucci and Benetge B. P. Perera and Polina Petrov and Nihan S. Pol and Henri A. Radovan and Scott M. Ransom and Paul S. Ray and Joseph D. Romano and Jessie C. Runnoe and Alexander Saffer and Shashwat C. Sardesai and Ann Schmiedekamp and Carl Schmiedekamp and Kai Schmitz and Federico Semenzato and Brent J. Shapiro-Albert and Rohan Shivakumar and Xavier Siemens and Joseph Simon and Sophia V. Sosa Fiscella and Ingrid H. Stairs and Daniel R. Stinebring and Kevin Stovall and Abhimanyu Susobhanan and Joseph K. Swiggum and Jacob A. Taylor and Stephen R. Taylor and Mercedes S. Thompson and Jacob E. Turner and Michele Vallisneri and Rutger van Haasteren and Sarah J. Vigeland and Haley M. Wahl and London Willson and Kevin P. Wilson and Caitlin A. Witt and David Wright and Olivia Young and Qinyuan Zheng},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.16534},
year = {2026}
}
备注
Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters