Detection and localization of single-source gravitational waves with pulsar timing arrays

Understand

Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) can be used to search for very low frequency ($10^{-9}$--$10^{-7}$ Hz) gravitational waves (GWs).

• In this paper we present a general method for the detection and localization of single-source GWs using PTAs.
• We demonstrate the effectiveness of this new method for three types of signals: monochromatic waves as expected from individual supermassive binary black holes in circular orbits, GWs from eccentric binaries and GW bursts.
• We also test its implementation in realistic data sets that include effects such as uneven sampling and heterogeneous data spans and measurement precision.