The Nanohertz Gravitational Wave Astronomer

Understand

Gravitational waves are a radically new way to peer into the darkest depths of the cosmos.

• Pulsars can be used to make direct detections of gravitational waves through precision timing.
• When a gravitational wave passes between a pulsar and the Earth, it stretches and squeezes the intermediate space-time, leading to deviations of the measured pulse arrival times away from model expectations.
• Combining the data from many Galactic pulsars can corroborate such a signal, and enhance its detection significance.