Multi-Messenger Astrophysics with Pulsar Timing Arrays

Abstract

Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) are on the verge of detecting low-frequency gravitational waves (GWs) from supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs). With continued observations of a large sample of millisecond pulsars, PTAs will reach this major milestone within the next decade. Already, SMBHB candidates are being identified by electromagnetic surveys in ever-increasing numbers; upcoming surveys will enhance our ability to detect and verify candidates, and will be instrumental in identifying the host galaxies of GW sources. Multi-messenger (GW and electromagnetic) observations of SMBHBs will revolutionize our understanding of the co-evolution of SMBHs with their host galaxies, the dynamical interactions between binaries and their galactic environments, and the fundamental physics of accretion. Multi-messenger observations can also make SMBHBs 'standard sirens' for cosmological distance measurements out to $z\simeq 0.5$. LIGO has already ushered in breakthrough insights in our knowledge of black holes. The multi-messenger detection of SMBHBs with PTAs will be a breakthrough in the years $2020-2030$ and beyond, and prepare us for LISA to help complete our views of black hole demographics and evolution at higher redshifts.

Submitted to the Astro2020 decadal review. This is one of five core white papers written by members of the NANOGrav Collaboration, see also: J.Cordes et al., S.R.Taylor et al., X.Siemens et al., and E.Fonseca et al

References in corpus (1)

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Cited by in corpus (18)

• The NANOGrav 15-year Data Set: Constraints on Supermassive Black Hole Binaries from the Gravitational Wave Background
• The Quest for Dual and Binary Supermassive Black Holes: A Multi-Messenger View
• The NANOGrav 15-year Data Set: Bayesian Limits on Gravitational Waves from Individual Supermassive Black Hole Binaries
• Electromagnetic Counterparts to Massive Black Hole Mergers
• The effect of differential accretion on the Gravitational Wave Background and the present day MBH Binary population
• X-ray spectral components of the blazar and binary black hole candidate OJ 287 (2005-2020)
• Gravitational Self-Lensing in Populations of Massive Black Hole Binaries
• Quasars with Periodic Variability: Capabilities and Limitations of Bayesian Searches for Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in Time-Domain Surveys
• Multimessenger pulsar timing array constraints on supermassive black hole binaries traced by periodic light curves
• Considerations for the Observability of Kinematically Offset Binary AGN
• The NANOGrav 12.5-year data set: A computationally efficient eccentric binary search pipeline and constraints on an eccentric supermassive binary candidate in 3C 66B
• Supermassive Binary Black Hole Evolution can be traced by a small SKA Pulsar Timing Array
• Packed Ultra-wideband Mapping Array (PUMA): Astro2020 RFI Response
• The Detectability of Kiloparsec Scale Dual AGNs: The Impact of Galactic Structure and Black Hole Orbital Properties
• Distinctive GWBs from eccentric inspiraling SMBH binaries with a DM spike
• A model-independent tripartite test of cosmic distance relations
• Efficient Bayesian inference and model selection for continuous gravitational waves in pulsar timing array data
• Ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves from individual supermassive black hole binaries as standard sirens