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SUMMARY:Searching for Gravitational Waves with Pulsar Timing Array - Justi
 n Ellis (University of Wisconsin\, USA)
DTSTART:20130701T153000Z
DTEND:20130701T163000Z
UID:TALK45991@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:David Titterington
DESCRIPTION:Gravitational Waves (GWs) are tiny ripples in the fabric of sp
 ace-time predicted by Einstein’s theory of General Relativity.  Pulsar t
 iming arrays (PTAs) offer a unique opportunity to detect low frequency GWs
  in the near future.  In this frequency band\, the expected source of GWs 
 are Supermassive Black Hole Binaries (SMBHBs) and they will most likely fo
 rm in an ensemble creating a stochastic GW background with the possibility
  of a few nearby/massive sources that will be individually resolvable.  A 
 direct detection of GWs will open a new window into the fields of astronom
 y and astrophysics by allowing us to constrain the coalescence rate of SMB
 HBs\, providing further tests on the theory of General Relativity\, and gi
 ving us access to properties of black holes not accessible by current astr
 onomical techniques.  Here we will discuss the development of a several ro
 bust detection pipelines for both a stochastic background of GWs and singl
 e resolvable sources that are fully tailored to the unique aspects of PTA 
 data analysis.  We report on the efficacy of these pipelines with simulate
 d datasets and present preliminary results from the newly released Interna
 tional Pulsar Timing Array (IPTA) data sets.\n
LOCATION:Ryle Seminar Room\, Cavendish Laboratory
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