Bayesian estimation of pulsar parameters from gravitational wave data

TL;DR

This paper introduces a Bayesian method for detecting and estimating parameters of gravitational waves from known pulsars using interferometric data, demonstrating its application on real LIGO and GEO 600 data and analyzing its performance on simulations.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel Bayesian approach for pulsar gravitational wave signal detection and parameter estimation, including multi-detector analysis and covariance insights.

Findings

Set upper limits on gravitational wave emission from several pulsars

Demonstrated the method's effectiveness on simulated data

Provided insights into parameter covariance and detector analysis

Abstract

We present a method of searching for, and parameterizing, signals from known radio pulsars in data from interferometric gravitational wave detectors. This method has been applied to data from the LIGO and GEO 600 detectors to set upper limits on the gravitational wave emission from several radio pulsars. Here we discuss the nature of the signal and the performance of the technique on simulated data. We show how to perform a coherent multiple detector analysis and give some insight in the covariance between the signal parameters.