Constraining cosmological phase transitions with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array

Abstract

A cosmological first-order phase transition is expected to produce a stochastic gravitational wave background. If the phase transition temperature is on the MeV scale, the power spectrum of the induced stochastic gravitational waves peaks around nanohertz frequencies, and can thus be probed with high-precision pulsar timing observations. We search for such a stochastic gravitational wave background with the latest data set of the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array. We find no evidence for a Hellings-Downs spatial correlation as expected for a stochastic gravitational wave background. Therefore, we present constraints on first-order phase transition model parameters. Our analysis shows that pulsar timing is particularly sensitive to the low-temperature ($T\sim 1-100$ MeV) phase transition with a duration $(\beta /H_{\ast }{)}^{-1}\sim 10^{-2}-10^{-1}$ and therefore can be used to constrain the dark and QCD phase transitions.

9 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables

References in corpus (22)

• GWTC-2: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the First Half of the Third Observing Run
• TEMPO2, a new pulsar timing package. I: Overview
• The NANOGrav 12.5-year Data Set: Search For An Isotropic Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background
• Tempo2, a new pulsar timing package. II: The timing model and precision estimates
• Gravitational Wave Production by Collisions: More Bubbles
• The Sphaleron Rate in the Minimal Standard Model
• On the evidence for a common-spectrum process in the search for the nanohertz gravitational-wave background with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array
• Gravitational wave generation from bubble collisions in first-order phase transitions: an analytic approach
• Gravitational wave energy budget in strongly supercooled phase transitions
• Gravitational Wave signatures of inflationary models from Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter
• Singlet-Catalyzed Electroweak Phase Transitions and Precision Higgs Studies
• On Effective Degrees of Freedom in the Early Universe
• Strong First Order Electroweak Phase Transition in the CP-Conserving 2HDM Revisited
• The NANOGrav 12.5 yr Data Set: Observations and Narrowband Timing of 47 Millisecond Pulsars
• Dispersion Measure Variations and their Effect on Precision Pulsar Timing
• The Parkes Pulsar Timing Array Project: Second data release
• Searching For Gravitational Waves From Cosmological Phase Transitions With The NANOGrav 12.5-year dataset
• Identifying and mitigating noise sources in precision pulsar timing data sets
• Cosmological Phase Transitions and their Properties in the NMSSM
• Whispers from the dark side: Confronting light new physics with NANOGrav data
• On the gravitational wave sources from the NANOGrav 12.5-yr data
• Low-rank approximations for large stationary covariance matrices, as used in the Bayesian and generalized-least-squares analysis of pulsar-timing data

Cited by in corpus (56)

• Search for an isotropic gravitational-wave background with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array
• The NANOGrav 15-year Data Set: Search for Signals from New Physics
• The recent gravitational wave observation by pulsar timing arrays and primordial black holes: the importance of non-gaussianities
• Searching For Gravitational Waves From Cosmological Phase Transitions With The NANOGrav 12.5-year dataset
• Detection of Early-Universe Gravitational Wave Signatures and Fundamental Physics
• Science with the TianQin Observatory: Preliminary Results on Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background
• Gravitational Waves from Domain Walls in Pulsar Timing Array Datasets
• Gravitational Waves from SMBH Binaries in Light of the NANOGrav 15-Year Data
• The Detected Stochastic Gravitational Waves and Subsolar-Mass Primordial Black Holes
• Implications for the Supermassive Black Hole Binaries from the NANOGrav 15-year Data Set
• Can supercooled phase transitions explain the gravitational wave background observed by pulsar timing arrays?
• Search for scalar induced gravitational waves in the International Pulsar Timing Array Data Release 2 and NANOgrav 12.5 years datasets
• Search for the Gravitational-wave Background from Cosmic Strings with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array Second Data Release
• Primordial black holes in the curvaton model: possible connections to pulsar timing arrays and dark matter
• Cosmological Interpretation for the Stochastic Signal in Pulsar Timing Arrays
• Implications of Nano-Hertz Gravitational Waves on Electroweak Phase Transition in the Singlet Dark Matter Model
• Did we hear the sound of the Universe boiling? Analysis using the full fluid velocity profiles and NANOGrav 15-year data
• Search for Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Massive Gravity in the NANOGrav 12.5-Year Data Set
• Searching for cosmic string induced stochastic gravitational wave background with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array
• Scalar induced gravity waves from ultra slow-roll Galileon inflation
• First-order phase transition and fate of false vacuum remnants
• Constraining ultralight vector dark matter with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array second data release
• Constraining first-order phase transitions with curvature perturbations
• Old Phase Remnants in First Order Phase Transitions
• Primordial non-Gaussianity as a saviour for PBH overproduction in SIGWs generated by Pulsar Timing Arrays for Galileon inflation
• Evaluating the prevalence of spurious correlations in pulsar timing array datasets
• The NANOGrav 12.5-year Data Set: Bayesian Limits on Gravitational Waves from Individual Supermassive Black Hole Binaries
• Realisation of the ultra-slow roll phase in Galileon inflation and PBH overproduction
• Constraining gravitational wave propagation using pulsar timing array correlations
• Evading no-go for PBH formation and production of SIGWs using Multiple Sharp Transitions in EFT of single field inflation
• Bounds on Ultralight Dark Matter from NANOGrav
• One $\mu$ to rule them all: CMB spectral distortions can probe domain walls, cosmic strings and low scale phase transitions
• The Inflaton that Could : Primordial Black Holes and Second Order Gravitational Waves from Tachyonic Instability induced in Higgs-$R^2$ Inflation
• Hunting the stochastic gravitational wave background in pulsar timing array cross correlations through theoretical uncertainty
• Large fluctuations and Primordial Black Holes
• Primordial magnetic field as a common solution of nanohertz gravitational waves and the Hubble tension
• Obviating PBH overproduction for SIGWs generated by Pulsar Timing Arrays in loop corrected EFT of bounce
• Anisotropy of phase transition gravitational wave and its implication for primordial seeds of the Universe
• Beyond the Hellings-Downs curve: Non-Einsteinian gravitational waves in pulsar timing array correlations
• Constraining ultralight dark matter using the Fermi-LAT pulsar timing array
• Constraints on new physics around the MeV scale with cosmological observations
• Correlations for an anisotropic polarized stochastic gravitational wave background in pulsar timing arrays
• Charting the Nanohertz Gravitational Wave Sky with Pulsar Timing Arrays
• Untangling PBH overproduction in $w$-SIGWs generated by Pulsar Timing Arrays for MST-EFT of single field inflation
• Constraining the Gravitational-Wave Spectrum from Cosmological First-Order Phase Transitions Using Data from LIGO-Virgo First Three Observing Runs
• Stochastic gravitational wave background: birth from string-wall death
• Domain Wall Network: A Dual Solution for Gravitational Waves and Hubble Tension?
• Toward a test of Gaussianity of a gravitational wave background
• Negative non-Gaussianity as a salvager for PBHs with PTAs in bounce
• Transition rate and gravitational wave spectrum from first-order QCD phase transitions
• Reducing instrumental errors in Parkes Pulsar Timing Array data
• Detecting the dark sector through scalar-induced gravitational waves
• Multimodality in the Search for New Physics in Pulsar Timing Data and the Case of Kination-amplified Gravitational-wave Background from Inflation
• Can asteroid-mass PBHDM be compatible with catalyzed phase transition interpretation of PTA?
• Searching for Anisotropy in the Gravitational Wave Background Using the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array
• Implications of pulsar timing arrays for Gauss-Bonnet Inflation