Pulsar timing array

<p>A pulsar timing array (PTA) is a set of <a href="/facts/Milky_Way/ulF6lccN">galactic</a> <a href="/facts/Pulsar/f8c7S5LQ">pulsars</a> that is monitored and analyzed to search for correlated signatures in the pulse arrival times on Earth. As such, they are galactic-sized detectors. Although there are many applications for pulsar timing arrays, the best known is the use of an array of <a href="/facts/Millisecond_pulsar/oVK1zXrx">millisecond pulsars</a> to detect and analyse long-wavelength (i.e., low-frequency) <a href="/facts/Gravitational_wave_background/px1CMoG6">gravitational wave background</a>. Such a detection would entail a detailed measurement of a <a href="/facts/Gravitational_wave/4XWN3NtG">gravitational wave</a> (GW) signature, like the GW-induced <a href="/facts/Quadrapole/6pCeNmwT">quadrupolar</a> correlation between arrival times of pulses emitted by different millisecond pulsar pairings that depends only on the pairings' angular separations in the sky. Larger arrays may be better for GW detection because the quadrupolar spatial correlations induced by GWs can be better sampled by many more pulsar pairings. With such a GW detection, millisecond pulsar timing arrays would open a new low-frequency window in <a href="/facts/Gravitational-wave_astronomy/eJGxCvdl">gravitational-wave astronomy</a> to peer into potential ancient <a href="/facts/Astrophysics/krFPRWLA">astrophysical</a> sources and <a href="/facts/Timeline_of_the_early_universe/wcDpG3CL">early Universe</a> processes, inaccessible by any other means.
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Pulsar timing array open-in-new

Pulsar timing array