Gravitational Waves, Extreme Astrophysics, and Fundamental Physics with Precision Pulsar Timing

Understand

Precision pulsar timing at the level of tens to hundreds of nanoseconds allows detection of nanohertz gravitational waves (GWs) from supermassive binary black holes (SMBBHs) at the cores of merging galaxies and, potentially, from exotic sources such as cosmic strings.

• The same timing data used for GW astronomy also yield precision masses of neutron stars orbiting other compact objects, constraints on the equation of state of nuclear matter, and precision tests of General Relativity, the Strong Equivalence Principle, and alternative theories of gravity.
• Timing can also lead to stringent constraints on the photon mass and on changes in fundamental constants and could reveal low mass objects (rogue planets, dark matter clumps) that traverse pulsar lines of sight.
• Data sets also allow modeling of the density, magnetic field, and turbulence in the interstellar plasma.