Geodesic noise and gravitational wave observations by pulsar timing arrays
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Published version
Author(s)
Golat, Sebastian
Contaldi, Carlo R
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Signals from millisecond pulsars travel to us on geodesics along the line-of-sight that are affected by the space–time metric. The exact path-geometry and redshifting along the geodesics determine the observed Time-of-Arrival (ToA) of the pulses. The metric is determined by the distribution of dark matter, gas, and stars in the galaxy and, in the final stages of travel, by the distribution of solar system bodies. The inhomogeneous distribution of stellar masses can have a small but significant statistical effect on the ToAs through the perturbation of geodesics. This will result in additional noise in ToA observations that may affect Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) constraints on gravitational waves at very low frequencies. We employ a simple model for the stellar distribution in our galaxy to estimate the scale of both static and dynamic sources of what we term generically “geodesic noise”. We find that geodesic noise has a standard deviation of (10) ns for typical lines-of-sight. This suggests geodesic noise is relevant for estimates of PTA sensitivity and may limit future efforts for detection of gravitational waves by PTAs.
Date Issued
2021-07-10
Date Acceptance
2021-05-19
Citation
Physics Letters B: Nuclear Physics and Particle Physics, 2021, 818, pp.1-4
ISSN
0370-2693
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
1
End Page
4
Journal / Book Title
Physics Letters B: Nuclear Physics and Particle Physics
Volume
818
Copyright Statement
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Funded by
SCOAP3.
SCOAP3.
License URL
Sponsor
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000662629500008&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
ST/P000762/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Physics, Nuclear
Physics, Particles & Fields
Physics
PACKAGE
TEMPO2
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 136381
Date Publish Online
2021-05-23