A study of spatial correlations in pulsar timing array data

Pulsar timing array experiments search for phenomena that produce angular correlations in the arrival times of signals from millisecond pulsars. The primary goal is to detect an isotropic and stochastic gravitational wave background. We use simulated data to show that this search can be affected by...

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Main Authors: Tiburzi, C., Hobbs, G., Kerr, M., Coles, W., Dai, S., Manchester, R., Possenti, A., Shannon, Ryan, You, X.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Oxford University Press 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15433
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author Tiburzi, C.
Hobbs, G.
Kerr, M.
Coles, W.
Dai, S.
Manchester, R.
Possenti, A.
Shannon, Ryan
You, X.
author_facet Tiburzi, C.
Hobbs, G.
Kerr, M.
Coles, W.
Dai, S.
Manchester, R.
Possenti, A.
Shannon, Ryan
You, X.
author_sort Tiburzi, C.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Pulsar timing array experiments search for phenomena that produce angular correlations in the arrival times of signals from millisecond pulsars. The primary goal is to detect an isotropic and stochastic gravitational wave background. We use simulated data to show that this search can be affected by the presence of other spatially correlated noise, such as errors in the reference time standard, errors in the planetary ephemeris, the solar wind and instrumentation issues. All these effects can induce significant false detections of gravitational waves. We test mitigation routines to account for clock errors, ephemeris errors and the solar wind. We demonstrate that it is non-trivial to find an effective mitigation routine for the planetary ephemeris and emphasize that other spatially correlated signals may be present in the data.
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format Journal Article
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T07:12:15Z
publishDate 2016
publisher Oxford University Press
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-154332018-03-29T09:07:21Z A study of spatial correlations in pulsar timing array data Tiburzi, C. Hobbs, G. Kerr, M. Coles, W. Dai, S. Manchester, R. Possenti, A. Shannon, Ryan You, X. Pulsar timing array experiments search for phenomena that produce angular correlations in the arrival times of signals from millisecond pulsars. The primary goal is to detect an isotropic and stochastic gravitational wave background. We use simulated data to show that this search can be affected by the presence of other spatially correlated noise, such as errors in the reference time standard, errors in the planetary ephemeris, the solar wind and instrumentation issues. All these effects can induce significant false detections of gravitational waves. We test mitigation routines to account for clock errors, ephemeris errors and the solar wind. We demonstrate that it is non-trivial to find an effective mitigation routine for the planetary ephemeris and emphasize that other spatially correlated signals may be present in the data. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15433 10.1093/mnras/stv2143 Oxford University Press restricted
spellingShingle Tiburzi, C.
Hobbs, G.
Kerr, M.
Coles, W.
Dai, S.
Manchester, R.
Possenti, A.
Shannon, Ryan
You, X.
A study of spatial correlations in pulsar timing array data
title A study of spatial correlations in pulsar timing array data
title_full A study of spatial correlations in pulsar timing array data
title_fullStr A study of spatial correlations in pulsar timing array data
title_full_unstemmed A study of spatial correlations in pulsar timing array data
title_short A study of spatial correlations in pulsar timing array data
title_sort study of spatial correlations in pulsar timing array data
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15433