Gravitational waves from binary supermassive black holes missing in pulsar observations

R Shannon; V. Ravi; L. Lentati; Paul Lasky; G Hobbs; M Kerr; R. N. Manchester; W. Coles; Yuri Levin; M Bailes; N D R {Bhat}; S Burke-Spolaor; S {Dai}; Michael Keith; Stefan Osłowski; Reardon Daniel; Willem van Straten; Lawrence Toomey; J. Wang; L. Wen; J. Stuart B Wyithe; X. Zhu

doi:10.1126/science.aab1910

Gravitational waves from binary supermassive black holes missing in pulsar observations

R Shannon, V. Ravi, L. Lentati, Paul Lasky, G Hobbs, M Kerr, R. N. Manchester, W. Coles, Yuri Levin, M Bailes, N D R {Bhat}, S Burke-Spolaor, S {Dai}, Michael Keith, Stefan Osłowski, Reardon Daniel, Willem van Straten, Lawrence Toomey, J. Wang, L. WenJ. Stuart B Wyithe, X. Zhu

CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Gravitational waves are expected to be radiated by supermassive black hole binaries formed during galaxy mergers. A stochastic superposition of gravitational waves from all such binary systems would modulate the arrival times of pulses from radio pulsars. Using observations of millisecond pulsars obtained with the Parkes radio telescope, we constrained the characteristic amplitude of this background, Ac,yr, to be <1.0 × 10-15 with 95% confidence. This limit excludes predicted ranges for Ac,yr from current models with 91 to 99.7% probability. We conclude that binary evolution is either stalled or dramatically accelerated by galactic-center environments and that higher-cadence and shorter-wavelength observations would be more sensitive to gravitational waves.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1522-1525
Journal	Science
Volume	349
Issue number	6255
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aab1910
Publication status	Published - 25 Sept 2015

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https://arxiv.org/abs/1509.07320Licence: Other

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Shannon, R., Ravi, V., Lentati, L., Lasky, P., Hobbs, G., Kerr, M., Manchester, R. N., Coles, W., Levin, Y., Bailes, M., {Bhat}, N. D. R., Burke-Spolaor, S., {Dai}, S., Keith, M., Osłowski, S., Daniel, R., van Straten, W., Toomey, L., Wang, J., ... Zhu, X. (2015). Gravitational waves from binary supermassive black holes missing in pulsar observations. Science, 349(6255), 1522-1525. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aab1910

@article{8fcfaaae53054bf985e604a402ae7e26,

title = "Gravitational waves from binary supermassive black holes missing in pulsar observations",

abstract = "Gravitational waves are expected to be radiated by supermassive black hole binaries formed during galaxy mergers. A stochastic superposition of gravitational waves from all such binary systems would modulate the arrival times of pulses from radio pulsars. Using observations of millisecond pulsars obtained with the Parkes radio telescope, we constrained the characteristic amplitude of this background, Ac,yr, to be <1.0 × 10-15 with 95% confidence. This limit excludes predicted ranges for Ac,yr from current models with 91 to 99.7% probability. We conclude that binary evolution is either stalled or dramatically accelerated by galactic-center environments and that higher-cadence and shorter-wavelength observations would be more sensitive to gravitational waves.",

author = "R Shannon and V. Ravi and L. Lentati and Paul Lasky and G Hobbs and M Kerr and Manchester, {R. N.} and W. Coles and Yuri Levin and M Bailes and {Bhat}, {N D R} and S Burke-Spolaor and S {Dai} and Michael Keith and Stefan Os{\l}owski and Reardon Daniel and {van Straten}, Willem and Lawrence Toomey and J. Wang and L. Wen and Wyithe, {J. Stuart B} and X. Zhu",

year = "2015",

month = sep,

day = "25",

doi = "10.1126/science.aab1910",

language = "English",

volume = "349",

pages = "1522--1525",

journal = "Science",

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Shannon, R, Ravi, V, Lentati, L, Lasky, P, Hobbs, G, Kerr, M, Manchester, RN, Coles, W, Levin, Y, Bailes, M, {Bhat}, NDR, Burke-Spolaor, S, {Dai}, S, Keith, M, Osłowski, S, Daniel, R, van Straten, W, Toomey, L, Wang, J, Wen, L, Wyithe, JSB & Zhu, X 2015, 'Gravitational waves from binary supermassive black holes missing in pulsar observations', Science, vol. 349, no. 6255, pp. 1522-1525. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aab1910

TY - JOUR

T1 - Gravitational waves from binary supermassive black holes missing in pulsar observations

AU - Shannon, R

AU - Ravi, V.

AU - Lentati, L.

AU - Lasky, Paul

AU - Hobbs, G

AU - Kerr, M

AU - Manchester, R. N.

AU - Coles, W.

AU - Levin, Yuri

AU - Bailes, M

AU - {Bhat}, N D R

AU - Burke-Spolaor, S

AU - {Dai}, S

AU - Keith, Michael

AU - Osłowski, Stefan

AU - Daniel, Reardon

AU - van Straten, Willem

AU - Toomey, Lawrence

AU - Wang, J.

AU - Wen, L.

AU - Wyithe, J. Stuart B

AU - Zhu, X.

PY - 2015/9/25

Y1 - 2015/9/25

N2 - Gravitational waves are expected to be radiated by supermassive black hole binaries formed during galaxy mergers. A stochastic superposition of gravitational waves from all such binary systems would modulate the arrival times of pulses from radio pulsars. Using observations of millisecond pulsars obtained with the Parkes radio telescope, we constrained the characteristic amplitude of this background, Ac,yr, to be <1.0 × 10-15 with 95% confidence. This limit excludes predicted ranges for Ac,yr from current models with 91 to 99.7% probability. We conclude that binary evolution is either stalled or dramatically accelerated by galactic-center environments and that higher-cadence and shorter-wavelength observations would be more sensitive to gravitational waves.

AB - Gravitational waves are expected to be radiated by supermassive black hole binaries formed during galaxy mergers. A stochastic superposition of gravitational waves from all such binary systems would modulate the arrival times of pulses from radio pulsars. Using observations of millisecond pulsars obtained with the Parkes radio telescope, we constrained the characteristic amplitude of this background, Ac,yr, to be <1.0 × 10-15 with 95% confidence. This limit excludes predicted ranges for Ac,yr from current models with 91 to 99.7% probability. We conclude that binary evolution is either stalled or dramatically accelerated by galactic-center environments and that higher-cadence and shorter-wavelength observations would be more sensitive to gravitational waves.

U2 - 10.1126/science.aab1910

DO - 10.1126/science.aab1910

M3 - Article

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 349

SP - 1522

EP - 1525

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6255

ER -

Gravitational waves from binary supermassive black holes missing in pulsar observations

Abstract

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