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1. The NANOGrav 15-year Data Set: Bayesian Limits on Gravitational Waves from Individual Supermassive Black Hole Binaries

Author

Agazie, Gabriella, Anumarlapudi, Akash, Archibald, Anne M., Arzoumanian, Zaven, Baker, Paul T., Bécsy, Bence, Blecha, Laura, Brazier, Adam, Brook, Paul R., Burke-Spolaor, Sarah, Case, Robin, Casey-Clyde, J. Andrew, Charisi, Maria, Chatterjee, Shami, Cohen, Tyler, Cordes, James M., Cornish, Neil, Crawford, Fronefield, Cromartie, H. Thankful, Crowter, Kathryn, DeCesar, Megan, Demorest, Paul B., Digman, Matthew C., Dolch, Timothy, Drachler, Brendan, Ferrara, Elizabeth C., Fiore, William, Fonseca, Emmanuel, Freedman, Gabriel, Garver-Daniels, Nathaniel, Gentile, Peter, Glaser, Joseph, Good, Deborah, Gültekin, Kayhan, Hazboun, Jeffrey, Hourihane, Sophie, Jennings, Ross, Johnson, Aaron D., Jones, Megan, Kaiser, Andrew R., Kaplan, David, Kelley, Luke Zoltan, Kerr, Matthew, Key, Joey, Laal, Nima, Lam, Michael, Lamb, William G., Lazio, T. Joseph W., Lewandowska, Natalia, Liu, Tingting, Lorimer, Duncan R., Luo, Jing Santiago, Lynch, Ryan S., Ma, Chung-Pei, Madison, Dustin, McEwen, Alexander, McKee, James W., McLaughlin, Maura, McMann, Natasha, Meyers, Bradley W., Meyers, Patrick M., Mingarelli, Chiara M. F., mitridate, andrea, natarajan, priya, Ng, Cherry, Nice, David, Ocker, Stella Koch, Olum, Ken, Pennucci, Timothy T., Perera, Benetge, Petrov, Polina, Pol, Nihan, Radovan, Henri A., Ransom, Scott, Ray, Paul S., Romano, Joseph, Sardesai, Shashwat C., Schmiedekamp, Ann, Schmiedekamp, Carl, Schmitz, Kai, Shapiro-Albert, Brent J., Siemens, Xavier, Simon, Joseph, Siwek, Magdalena, Stairs, Ingrid, Stinebring, Dan, Stovall, Kevin, Susobhanan, Abhimanyu, Swiggum, Joseph, Taylor, Jacob, Taylor, Stephen, Turner, Jacob E., Unal, Caner, Vallisneri, Michele, van Haasteren, Rutger, Vigeland, Sarah J., Wahl, Haley M., Witt, Caitlin, and Young, Olivia

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), FOS: Physical sciences, General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc), Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Abstract

Evidence for a low-frequency stochastic gravitational wave background has recently been reported based on analyses of pulsar timing array data. The most likely source of such a background is a population of supermassive black hole binaries, the loudest of which may be individually detected in these datasets. Here we present the search for individual supermassive black hole binaries in the NANOGrav 15-year dataset. We introduce several new techniques, which enhance the efficiency and modeling accuracy of the analysis. The search uncovered weak evidence for two candidate signals, one with a gravitational-wave frequency of $\sim$4 nHz, and another at $\sim$170 nHz. The significance of the low-frequency candidate was greatly diminished when Hellings-Downs correlations were included in the background model. The high-frequency candidate was discounted due to the lack of a plausible host galaxy, the unlikely astrophysical prior odds of finding such a source, and since most of its support comes from a single pulsar with a commensurate binary period. Finding no compelling evidence for signals from individual binary systems, we place upper limits on the strain amplitude of gravitational waves emitted by such systems., Comment: 23 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters as part of Focus on NANOGrav's 15-year Data Set and the Gravitational Wave Background. For questions or comments, please email comments@nanograv.org

Published
2023
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2. The NANOGrav 15-year Gravitational-Wave Background Analysis Pipeline

Author

Johnson, Aaron D., Meyers, Patrick M., Baker, Paul T., Cornish, Neil J., Hazboun, Jeffrey S., Littenberg, Tyson B., Romano, Joseph D., Taylor, Stephen R., Vallisneri, Michele, Vigeland, Sarah J., Olum, Ken D., Siemens, Xavier, Ellis, Justin A., van Haasteren, Rutger, Hourihane, Sophie, Agazie, Gabriella, Anumarlapudi, Akash, Archibald, Anne M., Arzoumanian, Zaven, Blecha, Laura, Brazier, Adam, Brook, Paul R., Burke-Spolaor, Sarah, Bécsy, Bence, Casey-Clyde, J. Andrew, Charisi, Maria, Chatterjee, Shami, Chatziioannou, Katerina, Cohen, Tyler, Cordes, James M., Crawford, Fronefield, Cromartie, H. Thankful, Crowter, Kathryn, DeCesar, Megan E., Demorest, Paul B., Dolch, Timothy, Drachler, Brendan, Ferrara, Elizabeth C., Fiore, William, Fonseca, Emmanuel, Freedman, Gabriel E., Garver-Daniels, Nate, Gentile, Peter A., Glaser, Joseph, Good, Deborah C., Gültekin, Kayhan, Jennings, Ross J., Jones, Megan L., Kaiser, Andrew R., Kaplan, David L., Kelley, Luke Zoltan, Kerr, Matthew, Key, Joey S., Laal, Nima, Lam, Michael T., Lamb, William G., Lazio, T. Joseph W., Lewandowska, Natalia, Liu, Tingting, Lorimer, Duncan R., Lynch, Ryan S., Ma, Chung-Pei, Madison, Dustin R., McEwen, Alexander, McKee, James W., McLaughlin, Maura A., McMann, Natasha, Meyers, Bradley W., Mingarelli, Chiara M. F., Mitridate, Andrea, Ng, Cherry, Nice, David J., Ocker, Stella Koch, Pennucci, Timothy T., Perera, Benetge B. P., Pol, Nihan S., Radovan, Henri A., Ransom, Scott M., Ray, Paul S., Sardesai, Shashwat C., Schmiedekamp, Carl, Schmiedekamp, Ann, Schmitz, Kai, Shapiro-Albert, Brent J., Simon, Joseph, Siwek, Magdalena S., Stairs, Ingrid H., Stinebring, Daniel R., Stovall, Kevin, Susobhanan, Abhimanyu, Swiggum, Joseph K., Turner, Jacob E., Unal, Caner, Wahl, Haley M., Witt, Caitlin A., and Young, Olivia

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), FOS: Physical sciences, General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc), Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM), General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Abstract

This paper presents rigorous tests of pulsar timing array methods and software, examining their consistency across a wide range of injected parameters and signal strength. We discuss updates to the 15-year isotropic gravitational-wave background analyses and their corresponding code representations. Descriptions of the internal structure of the flagship algorithms \texttt{Enterprise} and \texttt{PTMCMCSampler} are given to facilitate understanding of the PTA likelihood structure, how models are built, and what methods are currently used in sampling the high-dimensional PTA parameter space. We introduce a novel version of the PTA likelihood that uses a two-step marginalization procedure that performs much faster when the white noise parameters remain fixed. We perform stringent tests of consistency and correctness of the Bayesian and frequentist analysis software. For the Bayesian analysis, we test prior recovery, injection recovery, and Bayes factors. For the frequentist analysis, we test that the cross-correlation-based optimal statistic, when modified to account for a non-negligible gravitational-wave background, accurately recovers the amplitude of the background. We also summarize recent advances and tests performed on the optimal statistic in the literature from both GWB detection and parameter estimation perspectives. The tests presented here validate current and future analyses of PTA data., Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, 1 table; Companion paper to "The NANOGrav 15-year Data Set: Evidence for a Gravitational-Wave Background"; For questions or comments, please email comments@nanograv.org

Published
2023
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3. The NANOGrav 15-year Data Set: Search for Anisotropy in the Gravitational-Wave Background

Author

Agazie, Gabriella, Anumarlapudi, Akash, Archibald, Anne M., Arzoumanian, Zaven, Baker, Paul T., Bécsy, Bence, Blecha, Laura, Brazier, Adam, Brook, Paul R., Burke-Spolaor, Sarah, Casey-Clyde, J. Andrew, Charisi, Maria, Chatterjee, Shami, Cohen, Tyler, Cordes, James M., Cornish, Neil J., Crawford, Fronefield, Cromartie, H. Thankful, Crowter, Kathryn, DeCesar, Megan E., Demorest, Paul B., Dolch, Timothy, Drachler, Brendan, Ferrara, Elizabeth C., Fiore, William, Fonseca, Emmanuel, Freedman, Gabriel E., Gardiner, Emiko, Garver-Daniels, Nate, Gentile, Peter A., Glaser, Joseph, Good, Deborah C., Gültekin, Kayhan, Hazboun, Jeffrey S., Jennings, Ross J., Johnson, Aaron D., Jones, Megan L., Kaiser, Andrew R., Kaplan, David L., Kelley, Luke Zoltan, Kerr, Matthew, Key, Joey S., Laal, Nima, Lam, Michael T., Lamb, William G., Lazio, T. Joseph W., Lewandowska, Natalia, Liu, Tingting, Lorimer, Duncan R., Luo, Jing, Lynch, Ryan S., Ma, Chung-Pei, Madison, Dustin R., McEwen, Alexander, McKee, James W., McLaughlin, Maura A., McMann, Natasha, Meyers, Bradley W., Mingarelli, Chiara M. F., Mitridate, Andrea, Ng, Cherry, Nice, David J., Ocker, Stella Koch, Olum, Ken D., Pennucci, Timothy T., Perera, Benetge B. P., Pol, Nihan S., Radovan, Henri A., Ransom, Scott M., Ray, Paul S., Romano, Joseph D., Sardesai, Shashwat C., Schmiedekamp, Ann, Schmiedekamp, Carl, Schmitz, Kai, Schult, Levi, Shapiro-Albert, Brent J., Siemens, Xavier, Simon, Joseph, Siwek, Magdalena S., Stairs, Ingrid H., Stinebring, Daniel R., Stovall, Kevin, Susobhanan, Abhimanyu, Swiggum, Joseph K., Taylor, Stephen R., Turner, Jacob E., Unal, Caner, Vallisneri, Michele, Vigeland, Sarah J., Wahl, Haley M., Witt, Caitlin A., and Young, Olivia

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), FOS: Physical sciences, General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc), Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Abstract

The North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) has reported evidence for the presence of an isotropic nanohertz gravitational wave background (GWB) in its 15 yr dataset. However, if the GWB is produced by a population of inspiraling supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) systems, then the background is predicted to be anisotropic, depending on the distribution of these systems in the local Universe and the statistical properties of the SMBHB population. In this work, we search for anisotropy in the GWB using multiple methods and bases to describe the distribution of the GWB power on the sky. We do not find significant evidence of anisotropy, and place a Bayesian $95\%$ upper limit on the level of broadband anisotropy such that $(C_{l>0} / C_{l=0}) < 20\%$. We also derive conservative estimates on the anisotropy expected from a random distribution of SMBHB systems using astrophysical simulations conditioned on the isotropic GWB inferred in the 15-yr dataset, and show that this dataset has sufficient sensitivity to probe a large fraction of the predicted level of anisotropy. We end by highlighting the opportunities and challenges in searching for anisotropy in pulsar timing array data., 19 pages, 11 figures; submitted to Astrophysical Journal Letters as part of Focus on NANOGrav's 15-year Data Set and the Gravitational Wave Background. For questions or comments, please email comments@nanograv.org

Published
2023
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4. The NANOGrav 15-year Data Set: Constraints on Supermassive Black Hole Binaries from the Gravitational Wave Background

Author

Agazie, Gabriella, Anumarlapudi, Akash, Archibald, Anne M., Baker, Paul T., Bécsy, Bence, Blecha, Laura, Bonilla, Alexander, Brazier, Adam, Brook, Paul R., Burke-Spolaor, Sarah, Burnette, Rand, Case, Robin, Casey-Clyde, J. Andrew, Charisi, Maria, Chatterjee, Shami, Chatziioannou, Katerina, Cheeseboro, Belinda D., Chen, Siyuan, Cohen, Tyler, Cordes, James M., Cornish, Neil J., Crawford, Fronefield, Cromartie, H. Thankful, Crowter, Kathryn, Cutler, Curt J., D'Orazio, Daniel J., DeCesar, Megan E., DeGan, Dallas, Demorest, Paul B., Deng, Heling, Dolch, Timothy, Drachler, Brendan, Ferrara, Elizabeth C., Fiore, William, Fonseca, Emmanuel, Freedman, Gabriel E., Gardiner, Emiko, Garver-Daniels, Nate, Gentile, Peter A., Gersbach, Kyle A., Glaser, Joseph, Good, Deborah C., Gültekin, Kayhan, Hazboun, Jeffrey S., Hourihane, Sophie, Islo, Kristina, Jennings, Ross J., Johnson, Aaron, Jones, Megan L., Kaiser, Andrew R., Kaplan, David L., Kelley, Luke Zoltan, Kerr, Matthew, Key, Joey S., Laal, Nima, Lam, Michael T., Lamb, William G., Lazio, T. Joseph W., Lewandowska, Natalia, Littenberg, Tyson B., Liu, Tingting, Luo, Jing, Lynch, Ryan S., Ma, Chung-Pei, Madison, Dustin R., McEwen, Alexander, McKee, James W., McLaughlin, Maura A., McMann, Natasha, Meyers, Bradley W., Meyers, Patrick M., Mingarelli, Chiara M. F., Mitridate, Andrea, Natarajan, Priyamvada, Ng, Cherry, Nice, David J., Ocker, Stella Koch, Olum, Ken D., Pennucci, Timothy T., Perera, Benetge B. P., Petrov, Polina, Pol, Nihan S., Radovan, Henri A., Ransom, Scott M., Ray, Paul S., Romano, Joseph D., Runnoe, Jessie C., Sardesai, Shashwat C., Schmiedekamp, Ann, Schmiedekamp, Carl, Schmitz, Kai, Schult, Levi, Shapiro-Albert, Brent J., Siemens, Xavier, Simon, Joseph, Siwek, Magdalena S., Stairs, Ingrid H., Stinebring, Daniel R., Stovall, Kevin, Sun, Jerry P., Susobhanan, Abhimanyu, Swiggum, Joseph K., Taylor, Jacob, Taylor, Stephen R., Turner, Jacob E., Unal, Caner, Vallisneri, Michele, Vigeland, Sarah J., Wachter, Jeremy M., Wahl, Haley M., Wang, Qiaohong, Witt, Caitlin A., Wright, David, and Young, Olivia

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO), FOS: Physical sciences, General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc), Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract

The NANOGrav 15-year data set shows evidence for the presence of a low-frequency gravitational-wave background (GWB). While many physical processes can source such low-frequency gravitational waves, here we analyze the signal as coming from a population of supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries distributed throughout the Universe. We show that astrophysically motivated models of SMBH binary populations are able to reproduce both the amplitude and shape of the observed low-frequency gravitational-wave spectrum. While multiple model variations are able to reproduce the GWB spectrum at our current measurement precision, our results highlight the importance of accurately modeling binary evolution for producing realistic GWB spectra. Additionally, while reasonable parameters are able to reproduce the 15-year observations, the implied GWB amplitude necessitates either a large number of parameters to be at the edges of expected values, or a small number of parameters to be notably different from standard expectations. While we are not yet able to definitively establish the origin of the inferred GWB signal, the consistency of the signal with astrophysical expectations offers a tantalizing prospect for confirming that SMBH binaries are able to form, reach sub-parsec separations, and eventually coalesce. As the significance grows over time, higher-order features of the GWB spectrum will definitively determine the nature of the GWB and allow for novel constraints on SMBH populations., Comment: Accepted by Astrophysical Journal Letters as part of Focus on NANOGrav's 15-year Data Set and the Gravitational Wave Background. For questions or comments, please email comments@nanograv.org. Edited to fix two equation typos (Eq.13 & 21), and minor text typos

Published
2023
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5. The Green Bank North Celestial Cap Survey. VIII. 21 New Pulsar Timing Solutions

Author

Fiore, William, Levin, Lina, McLaughlin, Maura A., Anumarlapudi, Akash, Kaplan, David L., Swiggum, Joseph K., Agazie, Gabriella Y., Bavisotto, Robert, Chawla, Pragya, DeCesar, Megan E., Dolch, Timothy, Fonseca, Emmanuel, Kaspi, Victoria M., Komassa, Zachary, Kondratiev, Vlad I., van Leeuwen, Joeri, Lewis, Evan F., Lynch, Ryan S., McEwen, Alexander E., Mundorf, Rusty, Noori, Hind Al, Parent, Emilie, Pleunis, Ziggy, Ransom, Scott M., Siemens, Xavier, Spiewak, Renée, Stairs, Ingrid H., Surnis, Mayuresh, and Tobin, Thomas J.

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics, FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Abstract

We present timing solutions for 21 pulsars discovered in 350 MHz surveys using the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). All were discovered in the Green Bank North Celestial Cap pulsar survey, with the exception of PSR J0957-0619, which was found in the GBT 350 MHz Drift-scan pulsar survey. The majority of our timing observations were made with the GBT at 820 MHz. With a spin period of 37 ms and a 528-day orbit, PSR J0032+6946 joins a small group of five other mildly recycled wide binary pulsars, for which the duration of recycling through accretion is limited by the length of the companion's giant phase. PSRs J0141+6303 and J1327+3423 are new disrupted recycled pulsars. We incorporate Arecibo observations from the NANOGrav pulsar timing array into our analysis of the latter. We also observed PSR J1327+3423 with the Long Wavelength Array, and our data suggest a frequency-dependent dispersion measure. PSR J0957-0619 was discovered as a rotating radio transient, but is a nulling pulsar at 820 MHz. PSR J1239+3239 is a new millisecond pulsar (MSP) in a 4-day orbit with a low-mass companion. Four of our pulsars already have published timing solutions, which we update in this work: the recycled wide binary PSR J0214+5222, the non-eclipsing black widow PSR J0636+5128, the disrupted recycled pulsar J1434+7257, and the eclipsing binary MSP J1816+4510, which is in an 8.7 hr orbit with a redback-mass companion., Comment: 32 pages, 17 figures, 9 tables. Submitted to ApJ

Published
2023
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6. The NANOGrav 15-Year Data Set: Detector Characterization and Noise Budget

Author

Agazie, Gabriella, Anumarlapudi, Akash, Archibald, Anne M., Arzoumanian, Zaven, Baker, Paul T., Bécsy, Bence, Blecha, Laura, Brazier, Adam, Brook, Paul R., Burke-Spolaor, Sarah, Charisi, Maria, Chatterjee, Shami, Cohen, Tyler, Cordes, James M., Cornish, Neil J., Crawford, Fronefield, Cromartie, H. Thankful, Crowter, Kathryn, Decesar, Megan E., Demorest, Paul B., Dolch, Timothy, Drachler, Brendan, Ferrara, Elizabeth C., Fiore, William, Fonseca, Emmanuel, Freedman, Gabriel E., Garver-Daniels, Nate, Gentile, Peter A., Glaser, Joseph, Good, Deborah C., Guertin, Lydia, Gültekin, Kayhan, Hazboun, Jeffrey S., Jennings, Ross J., Johnson, Aaron D., Jones, Megan L., Kaiser, Andrew R., Kaplan, David L., Kelley, Luke Zoltan, Kerr, Matthew, Key, Joey S., Laal, Nima, Lam, Michael T., Lamb, William G., Lazio, T. Joseph W., Lewandowska, Natalia, Liu, Tingting, Lorimer, Duncan R., Luo, Jing, Lynch, Ryan S., Ma, Chung-Pei, Madison, Dustin R., Mcewen, Alexander, Mckee, James W., Mclaughlin, Maura A., Mcmann, Natasha, Meyers, Bradley W., Mingarelli, Chiara M. F., Mitridate, Andrea, Ng, Cherry, Nice, David J., Ocker, Stella Koch, Olum, Ken D., Pennucci, Timothy T., Perera, Benetge B. P., Pol, Nihan S., Radovan, Henri A., Ransom, Scott M., Ray, Paul S., Romano, Joseph D., Sardesai, Shashwat C., Schmiedekamp, Ann, Schmiedekamp, Carl, Schmitz, Kai, Shapiro-Albert, Brent J., Siemens, Xavier, Simon, Joseph, Siwek, Magdalena S., Stairs, Ingrid H., Stinebring, Daniel R., Stovall, Kevin, Susobhanan, Abhimanyu, Swiggum, Joseph K., Taylor, Stephen R., Turner, Jacob E., Unal, Caner, Vallisneri, Michele, Vigeland, Sarah J., Wahl, Haley M., Witt, Caitlin A., and Young, Olivia

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO), Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA), FOS: Physical sciences, General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc), Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM), General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract

Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) are galactic-scale gravitational wave detectors. Each individual arm, composed of a millisecond pulsar, a radio telescope, and a kiloparsecs-long path, differs in its properties but, in aggregate, can be used to extract low-frequency gravitational wave (GW) signals. We present a noise and sensitivity analysis to accompany the NANOGrav 15-year data release and associated papers, along with an in-depth introduction to PTA noise models. As a first step in our analysis, we characterize each individual pulsar data set with three types of white noise parameters and two red noise parameters. These parameters, along with the timing model and, particularly, a piecewise-constant model for the time-variable dispersion measure, determine the sensitivity curve over the low-frequency GW band we are searching. We tabulate information for all of the pulsars in this data release and present some representative sensitivity curves. We then combine the individual pulsar sensitivities using a signal-to-noise-ratio statistic to calculate the global sensitivity of the PTA to a stochastic background of GWs, obtaining a minimum noise characteristic strain of $7\times 10^{-15}$ at 5 nHz. A power law-integrated analysis shows rough agreement with the amplitudes recovered in NANOGrav's 15-year GW background analysis. While our phenomenological noise model does not model all known physical effects explicitly, it provides an accurate characterization of the noise in the data while preserving sensitivity to multiple classes of GW signals., Comment: 67 pages, 73 figures, 3 tables; published in Astrophysical Journal Letters as part of Focus on NANOGrav's 15-year Data Set and the Gravitational Wave Background. For questions or comments, please email comments@nanograv.org

Published
2023
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7. The NANOGrav 15-year Data Set: Search for Signals from New Physics

Author

Afzal, Adeela, Agazie, Gabriella, Anumarlapudi, Akash, Archibald, Anne M., Arzoumanian, Zaven, Baker, Paul T., Bécsy, Bence, Blanco-Pillado, Jose Juan, Blecha, Laura, Boddy, Kimberly K., Brazier, Adam, Brook, Paul R., Burke-Spolaor, Sarah, Burnette, Rand, Case, Robin, Charisi, Maria, Chatterjee, Shami, Chatziioannou, Katerina, Cheeseboro, Belinda D., Chen, Siyuan, Cohen, Tyler, Cordes, James M., Cornish, Neil J., Crawford, Fronefield, Cromartie, H. Thankful, Crowter, Kathryn, Cutler, Curt J., DeCesar, Megan E., DeGan, Dallas, Demorest, Paul B., Deng, Heling, Dolch, Timothy, Drachler, Brendan, von Eckardstein, Richard, Ferrara, Elizabeth C., Fiore, William, Fonseca, Emmanuel, Freedman, Gabriel E., Garver-Daniels, Nate, Gentile, Peter A., Gersbach, Kyle A., Glaser, Joseph, Good, Deborah C., Guertin, Lydia, Gültekin, Kayhan, Hazboun, Jeffrey S., Hourihane, Sophie, Islo, Kristina, Jennings, Ross J., Johnson, Aaron D., Jones, Megan L., Kaiser, Andrew R., Kaplan, David L., Kelley, Luke Zoltan, Kerr, Matthew, Key, Joey S., Laal, Nima, Lam, Michael T., Lamb, William G., Lazio, T. Joseph W., Lee, Vincent S. H., Lewandowska, Natalia, Santos, Rafael R. Lino dos, Littenberg, Tyson B., Liu, Tingting, Lorimer, Duncan R., Luo, Jing, Lynch, Ryan S., Ma, Chung-Pei, Madison, Dustin R., McEwen, Alexander, McKee, James W., McLaughlin, Maura A., McMann, Natasha, Meyers, Bradley W., Meyers, Patrick M., Mingarelli, Chiara M. F., Mitridate, Andrea, Nay, Jonathan, Natarajan, Priyamvada, Ng, Cherry, Nice, David J., Ocker, Stella Koch, Olum, Ken D., Pennucci, Timothy T., Perera, Benetge B. P., Petrov, Polina, Pol, Nihan S., Radovan, Henri A., Ransom, Scott M., Ray, Paul S., Romano, Joseph D., Sardesai, Shashwat C., Schmiedekamp, Ann, Schmiedekamp, Carl, Schmitz, Kai, Schröder, Tobias, Schult, Levi, Shapiro-Albert, Brent J., Siemens, Xavier, Simon, Joseph, Siwek, Magdalena S., Stairs, Ingrid H., Stinebring, Daniel R., Stovall, Kevin, Stratmann, Peter, Sun, Jerry P., Susobhanan, Abhimanyu, Swiggum, Joseph K., Taylor, Jacob, Taylor, Stephen R., Trickle, Tanner, Turner, Jacob E., Unal, Caner, Vallisneri, Michele, Verma, Sonali, Vigeland, Sarah J., Wahl, Haley M., Wang, Qiaohong, Witt, Caitlin A., Wright, David, Young, Olivia, and Zurek, Kathryn M.

Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), High Energy Physics - Phenomenology, Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO), High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph), FOS: Physical sciences, General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc), Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology, Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract

The 15-year pulsar timing data set collected by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) shows positive evidence for the presence of a low-frequency gravitational-wave (GW) background. In this paper, we investigate potential cosmological interpretations of this signal, specifically cosmic inflation, scalar-induced GWs, first-order phase transitions, cosmic strings, and domain walls. We find that, with the exception of stable cosmic strings of field theory origin, all these models can reproduce the observed signal. When compared to the standard interpretation in terms of inspiraling supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs), many cosmological models seem to provide a better fit resulting in Bayes factors in the range from 10 to 100. However, these results strongly depend on modeling assumptions about the cosmic SMBHB population and, at this stage, should not be regarded as evidence for new physics. Furthermore, we identify excluded parameter regions where the predicted GW signal from cosmological sources significantly exceeds the NANOGrav signal. These parameter constraints are independent of the origin of the NANOGrav signal and illustrate how pulsar timing data provide a new way to constrain the parameter space of these models. Finally, we search for deterministic signals produced by models of ultralight dark matter (ULDM) and dark matter substructures in the Milky Way. We find no evidence for either of these signals and thus report updated constraints on these models. In the case of ULDM, these constraints outperform torsion balance and atomic clock constraints for ULDM coupled to electrons, muons, or gluons., Comment: 74 pages, 31 figures, 4 tables; published in Astrophysical Journal Letters as part of Focus on NANOGrav's 15-year Data Set and the Gravitational Wave Background. For questions or comments, please email comments@nanograv.org

Published
2023
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