WOU-MMA: Probing Supermassive Binary Black Holes with Pulsar Timing Arrays

WOU-MMA：用脉冲星计时阵列探测超大质量双黑洞

• 批准号: 2011772
• 负责人: Sarah Vigeland
• 金额: $ 23.01万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2011772&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: WOU; MMA; Probing; Supermassive; Binary

This award supports research in relativity and relativistic astrophysics and it addresses the priority areas of NSF's "Windows on the Universe" Big Idea. Gravitational waves provide a new way of observing the Universe and promise to revolutionize our understanding of many topics in physics and astronomy. Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) use millisecond pulsars to detect low-frequency gravitational waves, and promising sources in this frequency band include supermassive binary black holes. Gravitational wave observations of these sources will help us understand their growth and evolution, as well as the properties of the galaxies in which they reside. PTAs can also perform fundamental tests of gravity by determining whether the gravitational waves emitted by these sources have the properties predicted by general relativity.The research in this proposal focuses on developing data analysis techniques for PTAs. The PI will use simulations to study how the significance of the gravitational wave signal evolves over time, and use these results to design robust pipelines for detecting and characterizing gravitational waves. The PI will also study ways of optimizing pulsar timing arrays, such as identifying sky locations to search for new millisecond pulsars. Finally, the PI will improve methods for combining data from different telescopes to enhance the sensitivity of PTAs by leveraging the next-generation radio telescopes currently under construction around the world.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该奖项支持相对论和相对论天体物理学的研究，并解决了NSF“宇宙之窗”大理念的优先领域。引力波提供了一种观察宇宙的新方法，并有望彻底改变我们对物理学和天文学许多主题的理解。脉冲星定时阵列（PTA）使用毫秒脉冲星来探测低频引力波，在这个频段有希望的源包括超大质量双黑洞。对这些源的引力波观测将帮助我们了解它们的生长和演化，以及它们所在星系的性质。PTAs还可以通过确定这些源发射的引力波是否具有广义相对论预测的性质来进行基本的引力测试。本提案的研究重点是开发PTAs的数据分析技术。PI将使用模拟来研究引力波信号的重要性如何随着时间的推移而演变，并使用这些结果来设计用于检测和表征引力波的强大管道。PI还将研究优化脉冲星定时阵列的方法，例如确定天空位置以搜索新的毫秒脉冲星。最后，PI将改进方法，将来自不同望远镜的数据结合起来，利用目前世界各地正在建设的下一代射电望远镜来提高PTA的灵敏度。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Multi-messenger Approaches to Supermassive Black Hole Binary Detection and Parameter Estimation. II. Optimal Strategies for a Pulsar Timing Array

超大质量黑洞双星探测和参数估计的多信使方法。

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/acb492
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: Liu, Tingting;Cohen, Tyler;McGrath, Casey;Demorest, Paul B.;Vigeland, Sarah J.
• 通讯作者: Vigeland, Sarah J.

Gravitational-wave Statistics for Pulsar Timing Arrays: Examining Bias from Using a Finite Number of Pulsars

脉冲星计时阵列的引力波统计：检查使用有限数量脉冲星带来的偏差

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac6f5e
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: Johnson, Aaron D.;Vigeland, Sarah J.;Siemens, Xavier;Taylor, Stephen R.
• 通讯作者: Taylor, Stephen R.

Multi-messenger Approaches to Supermassive Black Hole Binary Detection and Parameter Estimation: Implications for Nanohertz Gravitational Wave Searches with Pulsar Timing Arrays

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac1da9
• 发表时间: 2021-05
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: Tingting Liu;S. Vigeland