GBT20B-997

The North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves

Abstract

The era of gravitational wave astronomy is now underway, however the full GW spectrum has yet to be explored. Precision pulsar timing is complementary to laser experiments by probing a much lower (nHz) frequency range, and thus different GW sources, typically expected to be emitted by supermassive black hole binaries. Combining data from many pulsars into a Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) makes GW detection possible. Long timing baselines (10 or more years) dramatically improve GW sensitivity. Increasing the number of pulsars in the array also improves sensitivity, and ongoing search efforts continue to discover new MSPs. Upcoming instrumentation for pulsar timing will provide large bandwidth increases over previous instruments. In this Large Proposal, we request time to continue and expand our ongoing PTA project over the next three years, taking advantage of all these improvements. These results will confirm or refute GWs as the source of currently-observed noise in our existing data, will provide the best GW sensitivity yet achieved, and will significantly constrain the astrophysics of GW sources.

Investigators

Name	Institution
GBT Operator	Green Bank Observatory
Joseph Swiggum	West Virginia University; Wisconsin at Milwaukee, University of
Paul Demorest *	National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Timothy Pennucci	National Radio Astronomy Observatory; Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem
Megan DeCesar	George Mason University
Weiwei Zhu	British Columbia, University of; Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie; National Astronomical Observatories, CAS
Ingrid Stairs	British Columbia, University of
Renee Spiewak	Manchester, University of
Nihan Pol	Oregon State University; Wisconsin at Milwaukee, University of; Texas Tech University
David Nice	Lafayette College
Cherry Ng	Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie; Toronto, University of
Ryan Lynch	Green Bank Observatory
Michael Lam	Cornell University; Rochester Institute of Technology; West Virginia University; SETI Institute
Megan Jones	Wisconsin at Milwaukee, University of
Peter Gentile	West Virginia University
Emmanuel Fonseca	British Columbia, University of; McGill University; West Virginia University
Elizabeth Ferrara	Goddard Space Flight Center
Robert Ferdman	McGill University; East Anglia, University of
Timothy Dolch	Cornell University; Oberlin College; Hillsdale College
Kathryn Crowter	British Columbia, University of
Thankful Cromartie	Cornell University; Virginia, University of; Naval Research Laboratory
Paul Brook	West Virginia University
Paul Baker	West Virginia University; Widener University
Zaven Arzoumanian	Goddard Space Flight Center
Scott Ransom	National Radio Astronomy Observatory; Virginia, University of
Maura McLaughlin	West Virginia University
Shami Chatterjee	Cornell University
Kaleb Maraccini	Wisconsin at Milwaukee, University of
Zachary Komassa	Wisconsin at Milwaukee, University of
William Fiore	British Columbia, University of; West Virginia University
Xavier Siemens	Oregon State University; Wisconsin at Milwaukee, University of
Jim Cordes	Cornell University
Natasha McMann	Fisk University

* indicates the PI