Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

GRAVITATIONAL WAVES

Tuning pulsars to listen in on massive galaxies

Nature Astronomy volume 1, pages 825–826 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Orbiting supermassive black holes in the centres of nearby galaxies contribute to a gravitational-wave background over the whole sky. Networks of millisecond pulsars are sensitive to this signal. Creating maps of this background using information from known galaxies can help us to project when (and how) we may observe it.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Sensitivity limits for various gravitational-wave detectors and expected ranges for different gravitational-wave-emitting astrophysical objects.

(i), NASA, ESA and A. Evans (Stony Brook) et al.; (ii), SXS Lensing; (iii), NASA/Chadra X-ray Observatory; (iv) NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center; main graphic, ref.12, IOP.

References

  1. Mingarelli, C. M. F. et al. Nat. Astron. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-017-0299-6 (2017).

  2. Abbott, B. P. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 061102 (2016).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  3. Backer, D. C., Kulkarni, S. R. & Taylor, J. H. Nature 301, 314 (1983).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Lommen, A. N. Rep. Prog. Phys. 78, 124901 (2015).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Lommen, A. N. Nat. Astron. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-017-0324-9 (2017).

  6. Magorrian, J. et al. Astron. J 115, 2285–2305 (1998).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Schödel, R. Nature 419, 694–696 (2002).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Somerville, R. S. & Davé, R. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 53, 51–113 (2015).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Binney, J. & Tremaine, S. Galactic Dynamics 2nd edn (Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 2008).

  10. Genel, S. et al. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc 445, 175–200 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Sesana, A. et al. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc 463, L6–L11 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Moore, C. J., Cole, R. H. & Berry, C. P. L. Class. Quant. Grav 32, 015014 (2015).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was carried out under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Leonidas A. Moustakas

Authors
  1. Leonidas A. Moustakas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Leonidas A. Moustakas.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Moustakas, L.A. Tuning pulsars to listen in on massive galaxies. Nat Astron 1, 825–826 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-017-0334-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-017-0334-7

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing