Show simple item record

dc.contributor.authorRavi, V.
dc.contributor.authorWyithe, J.
dc.contributor.authorShannon, Ryan
dc.contributor.authorHobbs, G.
dc.date.accessioned2017-01-30T12:48:36Z
dc.date.available2017-01-30T12:48:36Z
dc.date.created2016-01-11T20:00:24Z
dc.date.issued2015
dc.identifier.citationRavi, V. and Wyithe, J. and Shannon, R. and Hobbs, G. 2015. Prospects for gravitational-wave detection and supermassive black hole astrophysics with pulsar timing arrays. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 447 (3): pp. 2772-2783.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/25457
dc.identifier.doi10.1093/mnras/stu2659
dc.description.abstract

Large-area sky surveys show that massive galaxies undergo at least one major merger in a Hubble time. Ongoing pulsar timing array (PTA) experiments are aimed at measuring the gravitational-wave (GW) emission from binary supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the centres of galaxy merger remnants. In this paper, using the latest observational estimates for a range of galaxy properties and scaling relations, we predict the amplitude of the GW background generated by the binary SMBH population. We also predict the numbers of individual binary SMBH GW sources. We predict the characteristic strain amplitude of the GW background to lie in the range 5.1 × 10−16 < Ayr < 2.4 × 10−15 at a frequency of (1 yr)−1, with 95 per cent confidence. Higher values within this range, which correspond to the more commonly preferred choice of galaxy merger time-scale, will fall within the expected sensitivity ranges of existing PTA projects in the next few years. In contrast, we find that a PTA consisting of at least 100 pulsars observed with next-generation radio telescopes will be required to detect continuous-wave GWs from binary SMBHs. We further suggest that GW memory bursts from coalescing SMBH pairs are not viable sources for PTAs. Both the GW background and individual GW source counts are dominated by binaries formed in mergers between early-type galaxies of masses ≳5 × 1010 M⊙ at redshifts ≲1.5. Uncertainties in the galaxy merger time-scale and the SMBH mass–galaxy bulge mass relation dominate the uncertainty in our predictions.

dc.titleProspects for gravitational-wave detection and supermassive black hole astrophysics with pulsar timing arrays
dc.typeJournal Article
dcterms.source.volume447
dcterms.source.number3
dcterms.source.startPage2772
dcterms.source.endPage2783
dcterms.source.issn0035-8711
dcterms.source.titleMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
curtin.departmentCurtin Institute of Radio Astronomy (Physics)
curtin.accessStatusFulltext not available


Files in this item

FilesSizeFormatView

There are no files associated with this item.

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record