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Title

On detection of the stochastic gravitational-wave background using the Parkes pulsar timing array

Author(s)

Yardley, D. R. B.;  Coles, W. A.;  Hobbs, G. B.;  Verbiest, J. P. W.;  Manchester, R. N.;  van Straten, W.;  Jenet, F. A.;  Bailes, M.;  Bhat, N. D. R.;  Burke-Spolaor, S.;  Champion, D. J.;  Hotan, A. W.;  Oslowski, S.;  Reynolds, J. E.;  Sarkissian, J. M.

Abstract

We search for the signature of an isotropic stochastic gravitational-wave background in pulsar timing observations using a frequency-domain correlation technique. These observations, which span roughly 12yr, were obtained with the 64-m Parkes radio telescope augmented by public domain observations from the Arecibo Observatory. A wide range of signal processing issues unique to pulsar timing and not previously presented in the literature are discussed. These include the effects of quadratic removal, irregular sampling and variable errors which exacerbate the spectral leakage inherent in estimating the steep red spectrum of the gravitational-wave background. These observations are found to be consistent with the null hypothesis that no gravitational-wave background is present, with 76 per cent confidence. We show that the detection statistic is dominated by the contributions of only a few pulsars because of the inhomogeneity of this data set. The issues of detecting the signature of a gravitational-wave background with future observations are discussed.

Publication type

Journal article

Research centre

Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies. Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing

Source

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 414, no. 2 (Jun 2011), pp. 1777-1787

Publication year

2011

FOR Code(s)

0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences

Keyword(s)

Gravitational waves;  Pulsars;  Stars

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell Publishing

ISSN

0035-8711

Publisher URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18517.x

Copyright

Copyright © 2011 The Authors. Journal copyright © 2011 Royal Astronomical Society. The accepted manuscript of the paper is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. The definitive publication is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.

Full text

Peer reviewed