The Effect of Observatory Localization in Pulsar Timing Searches for Gravitational Waves

Alexandra N. Higley*, Sparrow R. Roch*, Maura A. McLaughlin, and Manjari Bagchi
Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506

Presentation No.: 104

Assigned Category (Presentation Format): Physical Sciences (Poster Presentations)

Student’s Major: Physics and Astronomy

With the use of Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs), Gravitational Waves and Multi-Messenger astronomy can one day be better understood. To detect gravitational waves with PTAs we must take into account our position in the galaxy, solar system and earth. As such, the accuracy of the observatory position used to correct measured pulse times of arrival is crucial, and any discrepancy in said position that might manifest itself as background noise in gravitational wave analysis needs to be ruled out. Here I present the results of incrementally moving the observatory position by computational means and how that affects the measured physical parameters of each pulsar. We determine that only at large offsets in distance do we see any significant change in measured stellar attributes, however there is still change nonetheless. Taking into account interesting outliers and the distortions of data that happen with a varied observatory position, it is still necessary to perform a full gravitational wave analysis on this data to rule out error in observatory position as a source of possible noise.

Funding:

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: Other