Constraining the Graviton Mass with the NANOGrav 15-Year Data Set

Abstract

The recently detected stochastic signal by several pulsar timing array collaborations, offers an opportunity to scrutinize the fundamental properties of gravity, including the potential mass of the graviton. In this study, we analyze the NANOGrav 15-year data set to search for a stochastic gravitational wave background with modified Hellings-Downs correlations predicted by massive gravity. While the Bayesian analysis comparing the massive gravity to massless gravity within the effective searchable mass range of $m_g\in [3\times 10^{-25},8\times 10^{-24}]\mathrm{eV}/{\mathrm{c}}^2$ does not yield an explicit upper bound as all the Bayes factors are smaller than $3$, the combined consideration of the minimum frequency inherent in a massive gravity and the observed spectrum leads to an upper limit of $m_g<8.2\times 10^{-24}\mathrm{eV}/{\mathrm{c}}^2$.

6 pages, 1 figure, 1 table

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• Simultaneously probing the sound speed and equation of state of the early Universe with pulsar timing arrays
• Probing the speed of scalar-induced gravitational waves with pulsar timing arrays
• Search for Non-Tensorial Gravitational-Wave Backgrounds in the NANOGrav 15-Year Data Set
• Constraints on the velocity of gravitational waves from NANOGrav 15-year data set
• Prospects for Taiji to detect a gravitational-wave background from cosmic strings
• Charting the Nanohertz Gravitational Wave Sky with Pulsar Timing Arrays
• Constraining string cosmology with the gravitational-wave background using the NANOGrav 15-year data set
• Unveiling the existence of nontensorial gravitational-wave polarizations from individual supermassive black hole binaries with pulsar timing arrays
• Search for the non-linearities of gravitational wave background in NANOGrav 15-year data set
• Testing No slip model with pulsar timing arrays: NANOGrav and IPTA
• Spatial Correlation between Pulsars from Interfering Gravitational-Wave Sources in Massive Gravity