A Generalized Template Matching Algorithm for Correcting Jitter Noise in Pulsar Timing

TL;DR

This paper introduces a generalized template matching algorithm using principal component analysis to mitigate pulse jitter noise in pulsar timing, enhancing measurement precision for astrophysical research.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel PCA-based template matching method that accounts for pulse shape variations, improving jitter noise correction in pulsar timing.

Findings

The proposed method effectively reduces jitter noise in simulated pulsar data.

It outperforms traditional template matching techniques in handling pulse shape variability.

The approach can potentially prevent absorption of astrophysical signals during jitter correction.

Abstract

Pulsar timing is a valuable source of high-precision astrophysical measurements which can be used to probe gravitational physics, including by detecting gravitational waves. An important factor limiting the precision of these measurements is pulse jitter; i.e., intrinsic, short-timescale variation in the amplitude and shape of pulses from a given pulsar. Because conventional pulse time-of-arrival (TOA) measurement relies on template matching, which assumes the average pulse shape is stable, such variation gives rise to jitter noise in TOA measurements. Here we introduce a generalization of the template matching technique, making use of principal component analysis, which can account for variations in pulse shape. We compare this technique to other proposals for mitigating jitter noise in pulsar timing, paying particular attention to the possibility of corrections absorbing other astrophysical signals of interest, and demonstrate its effectiveness using simulated data.