Detecting Gravitational Scattering of Interstellar Objects Using Pulsar Timing
arXiv:1910.08608 · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab64df
Abstract
Gravitational scattering events, in which the path of an interstellar object is deflected by a pulsar or the solar system, give rise to reflex motion which can potentially be detected using pulsar timing. We determine the form of the timing signal expected from a gravitational scattering event, which is ramp-like and resembles the signal produced by a glitch or a gravitational wave burst with memory (BWM), and investigate the prospects for detecting such a signal using a pulsar timing array. The level of timing precision currently achieved for some millisecond pulsars makes it possible to detect objects as small as solar masses, less than the mass of the dwarf planet Ceres, at impact parameters as large as 1 AU. The signals produced by gravitational scattering could provide independent constraints on models of dark matter involving asteroid-mass objects or subhalos, and should be considered as potential false positives in searches for BWMs.
12 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ
References in corpus (35)
- Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter
- Limits on the Macho Content of the Galactic Halo from the EROS-2 Survey of the Magellanic Clouds
- The international pulsar timing array project: using pulsars as a gravitational wave detector
- The NANOGrav 11-year Data Set: High-precision timing of 45 Millisecond Pulsars
- Microlensing constraints on primordial black holes with the Subaru/HSC Andromeda observation
- High-precision timing of 42 millisecond pulsars with the European Pulsar Timing Array
- The International Pulsar Timing Array: First Data Release
- The NANOGrav 11-year Data Set: Pulsar-timing Constraints On The Stochastic Gravitational-wave Background
- The Circular Velocity Curve of the Milky Way from to kpc
- MACHO Project Limits on Black Hole Dark Matter in the 1-30 Solar Mass Range
- The International Pulsar Timing Array: Second data release
- Assessing the Role of Spin Noise in the Precision Timing of Millisecond Pulsars
- The Parkes Pulsar Timing Array
- The OGLE View of Microlensing towards the Magellanic Clouds. IV. OGLE-III SMC Data and Final Conclusions on MACHOs
- Aspects of the Mass Distribution of Interstellar Dust Grains in the Solar System from In-Situ Measurements
- An Anti-Glitch in a Magnetar
- An Observational Upper Limit on the Interstellar Number Density of Asteroids and Comets
- Interstellar Interlopers: Number Density and Origins of 'Oumuamua-like Objects
- Gravitational-wave memory and pulsar timing arrays
- Pulsar Timing Probes of Primordial Black Holes and Subhalos
- Timing of young radio pulsars I: Timing noise, periodic modulation and proper motion
- Using Gaia DR2 to Constrain Local Dark Matter Density and Thin Dark Disk
- An Asteroid Belt Interpretation for the Timing Variations of the Millisecond Pulsar B1937+21
- The NANOGrav Nine-Year Data Set: Excess Noise in Millisecond Pulsar Arrival Times
- A Micro-glitch in the Millisecond Pulsar B1821-24 in M28
- A glitch in the millisecond pulsar J0613-0200
- Observation of metre-scale impactors by the Desert Fireball Network
- Probing Dark Matter Substructure with Pulsar Timing
- Investigating dark matter substructure with pulsar timing: I. Constraints on ultracompact minihalos
- The NANOGrav Nine-Year Data Set: Noise Budget for Pulsar Arrival Times on Intraday Timescales
- Studying the solar system with the International Pulsar Timing Array
- Searching for primordial black hole dark matter with pulsar timing arrays
- Enhanced exploration for primordial black holes using pulsar timing arrays
- Pulsar Timing Perturbations from Galactic Gravitational Wave Bursts with Memory
- A dynamical approach in exploring the unknown mass in the Solar system using pulsar timing arrays