{"paper":{"title":"Evaluating the Fourier Approximation in Pulsar Timing Array Analysis","license":"http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["astro-ph.HE"],"primary_cat":"gr-qc","authors_text":"Abhimanyu Susobhanan, Akash Anumarlapudi, Alexander McEwen, Anne M. Archibald, Ann Schmiedekamp, Benetge B. P. Perera, Bradley W. Meyers, Brent J. Shapiro-Albert, Carl Schmiedekamp, Cherry Ng, David J. Nice, David L. Kaplan, Deborah C. Good, Duncan R. Lorimer, Elizabeth C. Ferrara, Emmanuel Fonseca, Gabriel E. Freedman, Gabriella Agazie, Haley M. Wahl, Hayden Scholz, Henri A. Radovan, H. Thankful Cromartie, Ingrid H. Stairs, Jeffrey S. Hazboun, Jing Luo, Joseph Glaser, Joseph K. Swiggum, Justin A. Ellis, Kathryn Crowter, Ken D. Olum, Kevin Stovall, Lucas Steinberger, Matthew Kerr, Maura A. McLaughlin, Megan E. DeCesar, Megan L. Jones, Michael T. Lam, Michele Vallisneri, Natasha McMann, Nate Garver-Daniels, Nihan S. Pol, Paul B. Demorest, Paul R. Brook, Paul S. Ray, Paul T. Baker, Peter A. Gentile, Ross J. Jennings, Rutger van Haasteren, Ryan S. Lynch, Scott M. Ransom, Stephen R. Taylor, Timothy Dolch, Timothy T. Pennucci, William Fiore, Yongqi Zhang, Zaven Arzoumanian","submitted_at":"2026-06-29T16:37:24Z","abstract_excerpt":"Pulsar timing arrays search for stochastic processes such as gravitational waves by comparing pulse time of arrival data for millisecond pulsars to expectations from a background with a given power spectral density (PSD). To make the analysis computationally tractable, the Bayesian likelihood is usually computed using an approximation in which the signal is taken to be a sum of Fourier modes appropriate to the total time of observation, even though the true signal is not periodic. We study the difference between likelihoods computed with this Fourier approximation method for power law spectra "},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"2606.30536","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2606.30536/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[],"snapshot_sha256":"c28c3603d3b5d939e8dc4c7e95fa8dfce3d595e45f758748cecf8e644a296938"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}