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Pulsar timing for gravitational wave detection

Pulsar timing arrays may well be the next type of experiment to detect gravitational waves. Sensitive to lower frequencies than LIGO–Virgo, they will detect the stochastic background of massive binary black hole mergers.

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Fig. 1

Reproduced from ref. 12, IOP.

Fig. 2: Side-by-side comparison of how LIGO–Virgo (left) detects a gravitational wave source and how PTAs (right) detect a source.

Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library/Alamy Stock Photo.

Fig. 3: Partners in the International Pulsar Timing Array.

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Correspondence to Andrea N. Lommen.

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Lommen, A. Pulsar timing for gravitational wave detection. Nat Astron 1, 809–811 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-017-0324-9

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