Astrometric Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background
| dc.contributor.author | Darling, Jeremy | |
| dc.contributor.author | Truebenbach, Alexandra E. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Paine, Jennie | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-04-08T20:31:30Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-04-08T20:31:30Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2018-07-11 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The canonical methods for gravitational wave detection are ground- and space-based laser interferometry, pulsar timing, and polarization of the cosmic microwave background. But as has been suggested by numerous investigators, astrometry offers an additional path to gravitational wave detection. Gravitational waves deflect light rays of extragalactic objects, creating apparent proper motions in a quadrupolar (and higher-order modes) pattern. Astrometry of extragalactic radio sources is sensitive to gravitational waves with frequencies between roughly 10⁻¹⁸ and 10⁻⁸ Hz (H₀ and 1/3 yr⁻¹), overlapping and bridging the pulsar timing and CMB polarization regimes. We present a methodology for astrometric gravitational wave detection in the presence of large intrinsic uncorrelated proper motions (i.e., radio jets). We obtain 95% confidence limits on the stochastic gravitational wave background using 711 radio sources, ΩGW < 0.0064, and using 508 radio sources combined with the first Gaia data release: ΩGW < 0.011. These limits probe gravitational wave frequencies 6 × 10⁻¹⁸ Hz ≲ f ≲ 1 × 10⁻⁹ Hz. Using a WISE-Gaia catalog of 567,721 AGN, we predict a limit expected from Gaia alone of ΩGW < 0.0006, which is significantly higher than was originally forecast. Incidentally, we detect and report on 22 new examples of optical superluminal motion with redshifts 0.13–3.89. | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | We thank David Gordon (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) for making much of this work possible and Mark Reid (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) for helpful discussions. We also thank the anonymous referee for helpful suggestions. The authors acknowledge support from the NSF grant AST-1411605 and the NASA grant 14-ATP14-0086. This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission Gaia (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/gaia), processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC, https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dpac/consortium). Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement. We acknowledge the Gaia Project Scientist Support Team and the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium for the pyGaia software. This research has made use of NASA's Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services and the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. | |
| dc.description.uri | https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aac772 | |
| dc.format.extent | 12 pages | |
| dc.genre | journal articles | |
| dc.identifier | doi:10.13016/m2mr3w-wl0s | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Darling, Jeremy, Alexandra E. Truebenbach, and Jennie Paine. “Astrometric Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background.” The Astrophysical Journal 861, no. 2 (July 2018): 113. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aac772. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aac772 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11603/32934 | |
| dc.publisher | AAS | |
| dc.relation.isAvailableAt | The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) | |
| dc.relation.ispartof | UMBC Center for Space Sciences and Technology | |
| dc.rights | This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author. | |
| dc.title | Astrometric Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background | |
| dc.type | Text | |
| dcterms.creator | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7517-9223 |