pith. sign in

hub Canonical reference

The NANOGrav 15-year Data Set: Evidence for a Gravitational-Wave Background

Canonical reference. 77% of citing Pith papers cite this work as background.

68 Pith papers citing it
Background 77% of classified citations
abstract

We report multiple lines of evidence for a stochastic signal that is correlated among 67 pulsars from the 15-year pulsar-timing data set collected by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves. The correlations follow the Hellings-Downs pattern expected for a stochastic gravitational-wave background. The presence of such a gravitational-wave background with a power-law-spectrum is favored over a model with only independent pulsar noises with a Bayes factor in excess of $10^{14}$, and this same model is favored over an uncorrelated common power-law-spectrum model with Bayes factors of 200-1000, depending on spectral modeling choices. We have built a statistical background distribution for these latter Bayes factors using a method that removes inter-pulsar correlations from our data set, finding $p = 10^{-3}$ (approx. $3\sigma$) for the observed Bayes factors in the null no-correlation scenario. A frequentist test statistic built directly as a weighted sum of inter-pulsar correlations yields $p = 5 \times 10^{-5} - 1.9 \times 10^{-4}$ (approx. $3.5 - 4\sigma$). Assuming a fiducial $f^{-2/3}$ characteristic-strain spectrum, as appropriate for an ensemble of binary supermassive black-hole inspirals, the strain amplitude is $2.4^{+0.7}_{-0.6} \times 10^{-15}$ (median + 90% credible interval) at a reference frequency of 1/(1 yr). The inferred gravitational-wave background amplitude and spectrum are consistent with astrophysical expectations for a signal from a population of supermassive black-hole binaries, although more exotic cosmological and astrophysical sources cannot be excluded. The observation of Hellings-Downs correlations points to the gravitational-wave origin of this signal.

hub tools

citation-role summary

background 26 dataset 3 extension 1 method 1

citation-polarity summary

clear filters

representative citing papers

Gravity Echoes from Supermassive Black Hole Binaries

astro-ph.HE · 2026-04-22 · unverdicted · novelty 8.0

Future microhertz detections combined with nanohertz pulsar terms can serve as gravity echoes to measure supermassive black hole binary inspiral rates from hundreds to thousands of years in the past.

Self-acceleration of Hardening Binaries

astro-ph.GA · 2026-05-01 · unverdicted · novelty 7.0

Hardening binaries experience deterministic self-acceleration of their center of mass, induced precession, and plane rotation in uniform isotropic media, driving outward spiraling and eccentricity growth in all cases rather than circularization.

Stone Skipping Black Holes in Ultralight Dark Matter Solitons

astro-ph.CO · 2026-02-12 · unverdicted · novelty 7.0

Black holes in ultralight dark matter solitons undergo quasi-periodic stone-skipping orbits driven by soliton dipole excitations, modifying inspiral dynamics when the black hole is much lighter than the soliton.

Quantum production of gravitational waves after inflation

gr-qc · 2025-07-11 · unverdicted · novelty 7.0

Scalar metric perturbations after inflation break conformal invariance and induce quantum production of gravitons, generating a GW spectrum that peaks near GHz frequencies for standard primordial scalar power spectra.

Testing General Relativity with Individual Supermassive Black Hole Binaries

gr-qc · 2026-05-06 · unverdicted · novelty 6.0

A framework is developed to test beyond-GR effects in nanohertz continuous waves from individual SMBHBs, deriving modified inter-pulsar correlations, antenna responses, and phase delays for three deviation classes, validated by injection-recovery simulations showing parameter recovery and no GR bias

High-Power AM-CW Lunar Laser Ranging as a $\mu$Hz SGWB Detector

gr-qc · 2026-05-04 · unverdicted · novelty 6.0

AM-CW lunar laser ranging achieves μHz SGWB sensitivity of 5.29×10^{-9} D_cov (80 μm range uncertainty) or 2.07×10^{-9} D_cov (50 μm) over 5 years, with discovery possible if covariance degradation stays below ~3.6-13.7.

citing papers explorer

Showing 1 of 1 citing paper after filters.