Kolmogorov analysis of pulsar TOA

TL;DR

This paper applies the Kolmogorov stochasticity parameter to analyze pulsar timing data, revealing inhomogeneity and nonstationary processes in white noise, and assessing the stochastic gravitational wave background.

Contribution

It introduces the use of KSP to evaluate the randomness and physical influences in pulsar timing data, providing a new diagnostic tool.

Findings

Identified variability in white noise randomness among pulsars

Detected nonstationary physical processes affecting pulsar signals

KSP serves as an indicator of model-data agreement and physical contributions

Abstract

The Kolmogorov stochasticity parameter (KSP) as a sensitive descriptor of the degree of randomness of signals was used to analyze the properties of the NANOGrav pulsar timing data associated with a stochastic gravitational wave background. The time of arrival (TOA) data of white noise for 68 pulsars were analyzed regarding their KSP properties. The analysis enabled us to obtain the degree of randomness of the white noise for various pulsars and to reveal its inhomogeneity, i.e., pulsars with low and high randomness of the white noise. The time dependence of the randomness in the white noise was also studied, indicating the existence of nonstationary physical processes influencing the pulsar timing. The KSP is thus acting as an indicator for the degree of the agreement between the observations and the timing models and as a test in revealing the contribution of various physical processes in the stochastic background signal.