Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 376, Issue 6592, Pages 521-+Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.abm3231
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Funding
- DOE [DE-AC02-76SF00515]
- NASA [NNG21OB03A, 80GSFC21M0002, HST-HF2-51453.001]
- UBC Four Year Fellowship [6456]
- NSF Physics Frontiers Center [1430284]
- MCIN/AEI [PGC2018-095161-B-I00, CEX2020-001007-S]
- ERDF
- Juan de la Cierva-Incorporacion [IJC2019-040315-I]
- Slovenian Research Agency [P1-0031, I0-0033, J1-1700]
- ERC under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme [715051]
- NRC Research Associateship award at NRL
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By analyzing the data from a gamma-ray pulsar timing array, we have studied the characteristic strain of the gravitational wave background and obtained credible limits. This direct measurement method not only provides an independent probe of the GWB but also offers a validation check on radio noise models.
After large galaxies merge, their central supermassive black holes are expected to form binary systems. Their orbital motion should generate a gravitational wave background (GWB) at nanohertz frequencies. Searches for this background use pulsar timing arrays, which perform long-term monitoring of millisecond pulsars at radio wavelengths. We used 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 1.0 x 10(-14) at a frequency of 1 year(-1). The sensitivity is expected to scale with t(obs), the observing time span, as t(obs)(-13/6). This direct measurement provides an independent probe of the GWB while offering a check on radio noise models.
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