Bayesian pulsar timing and noise analysis with Vela.jl: an overview

TL;DR

Vela is a Julia-based, modular Bayesian pulsar timing package that offers efficient, parallelized analysis with Python integration, enhancing reliability and usability for pulsar noise modeling.

Contribution

Introduces Vela, a novel Julia package for Bayesian pulsar timing analysis with full non-linear modeling and Python binding, emphasizing efficiency and modularity.

Findings

Efficient Bayesian analysis of pulsar timing data.

Parallelized implementation improves computational speed.

Reliable results validated through extensive testing.

Abstract

We present Vela, an efficient, modular, easy-to-use Bayesian pulsar timing and noise analysis package written in Julia. Vela provides an independent, efficient, and parallelized implementation of the full non-linear pulsar timing and noise model along with a Python binding named pyvela. One-time operations such as data file input, clock corrections, and solar system ephemeris computations are performed by pyvela with the help of the PINT pulsar timing package. Its reliability is ensured via careful design utilizing Julia's type system, strict version control, and an exhaustive test suite. This paper describes the design and usage of Vela focusing on the narrowband paradigm.