Coordinated Observations with Pulsar Timing Arrays and ISS-Lobster

TL;DR

This paper discusses the potential for coordinated gravitational wave and electromagnetic observations of supermassive black hole binaries, emphasizing how ISS-Lobster can aid in identifying and characterizing these sources.

Contribution

It introduces a strategy for combining pulsar timing arrays and ISS-Lobster observations to detect and study supermassive black hole binaries with long periods.

Findings

ISS-Lobster can identify electromagnetic counterparts to PTA sources.

Enhanced understanding of AGN variability from expanded X-ray light curves.

Potential for improved detection thresholds for supermassive black hole binaries.

Abstract

Supermassive black hole binaries are the strongest gravitational wave sources in the universe. The systems most likely to be observed with pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) will have particularly high masses ($\gtrsim 10^9 M_\odot$), long periods ($T_{\rm orb} \gtrsim 1$ yr), and be in the local universe ($z \lesssim 1$). These features are also the most favorable for bright electromagnetic counterparts, which should be easily observable with existing ground- and space-based telescopes. Wide-field X-ray observatories such as ISS-Lobster will provide independent candidates that can be used to lower the threshold for PTA detections of resolvable binary sources. The primary challenge lies in correctly identifying and characterizing binary sources with long orbital periods, as opposed to "normal" active galactic nuclei (AGN) hosting single black holes. Here too ISS-Lobster will provide valuable new understanding into the wide range of behaviors seen in AGN by vastly expanding our sample of X-ray light curves from accreting supermassive black holes.