paper

Pulsars as Weber gravitational wave detectors

arXiv:1804.00453 · doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2019.02.031

Abstract

A gravitational wave passing through a pulsar will lead to a variation in the moment of inertia of the pulsar affecting its rotation. This will affect the extremely accurately measured spin rate of the pulsar as well as its pulse profile (due to induced wobbling depending on the source direction). The effect will be most pronounced at resonance and should be detectable by accurate observations of the pulsar signal. The pulsar, in this sense, acts as a remotely stationed Weber detector of gravitational waves whose signal can be monitored on earth. With possible gravitational wave sources spread around in the universe, pulsars in their neighborhoods can provide us a family of \textit{remote} detectors all of which can be monitored on earth. Even if GW are detected directly by earth based conventional detectors, such pulsar detectors can provide additional information for accurate determination of the source location. This can be of crucial importance for sources which do not emit any other form of radiation such as black hole mergers. For the gravitational wave events already detected by LIGO (and Virgo), our proposal suggests that one should look for specific pulsars which would have been disturbed by these events, and will transmit this disturbance via their pulse signals in any foreseeable future. If these future pulsar events can be predicted with accuracy then a focused effort can be made to detect any possible changes in the signals of those specific pulsars.

arXiv comment5 pages, no figures, minor corrections in couple of equations, few clarifications added, possibility of future detection of the events already observed by LIGO (and Virgo), using pulsars, discussed

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