Noise in pulsar timing arrays

TL;DR

This paper reviews the various noise sources affecting pulsar timing arrays, their physical origins, and mitigation strategies, to improve gravitational wave detection efforts.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of noise types in pulsar timing and assesses their physical causes and mitigation methods.

Findings

Radiometer, phase jitter, and timing noise identified

Assessment of noise components in NANOGrav pulsars

Strategies for noise reduction discussed

Abstract

To successfully detect gravitational waves with pulsar timing arrays, we need to have a comprehensive understanding of the physical origins and statistical characteristics of the noise in pulse arrival times and identify mitigation methods to reduce the noise. In this paper we will review radiometer noise, phase jitter noise and timing noise in the noise budget of pulsar timing and show various efforts used to reduce them. We will briefly discuss the results of an overall assessment of the components and physical causes of the timing residuals for millisecond pulsars in the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav).