Optimization of NANOGrav's Time Allocation for Maximum Sensitivity to Single Sources

Abstract

Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs) are a collection of precisely timed millisecond pulsars (MSPs) that can search for gravitational waves (GWs) in the nanohertz frequency range by observing characteristic signatures in the timing residuals. The sensitivity of a PTA depends on the direction of the propagating gravitational wave source, the timing accuracy of the pulsars, and the allocation of the available observing time. The goal of this paper is to determine the optimal time allocation strategy among the MSPs in the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) for a single source of GW under a particular set of assumptions. We consider both an isotropic distribution of sources across the sky and a specific source in the Virgo cluster. This work improves on previous efforts by modeling the effect of intrinsic spin noise for each pulsar. We find that, in general, the array is optimized by maximizing time spent on the best-timed pulsars, with sensitivity improvements typically ranging from a factor of 1.5 to 4.

Accepted by Astrophyiscal Journal

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• The NANOGrav 12.5-year Data Set: Search For An Isotropic Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background
• The NANOGrav 11-Year Data Set: Limits on Gravitational Waves from Individual Supermassive Black Hole Binaries
• The CHIME Pulsar Project: System Overview
• The NANOGrav 11-Year Data Set: Limits on Gravitational Wave Memory
• The NANOGrav Program for Gravitational Waves and Fundamental Physics
• Multimessenger Approaches to Supermassive Black Hole Binary Detection and Parameter Estimation II: Optimal Strategies for a Pulsar Timing Array