Pulsar Timing Arrays Require Hierarchical Models

Publikation: Beitrag in Fachzeitschrift › Artikel › Forschung › Peer-Review

Autorschaft

  • Rutger van Haasteren

Organisationseinheiten

Externe Organisationen

  • Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut)
Forschungs-netzwerk anzeigen

Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Aufsatznummer23
Seitenumfang12
FachzeitschriftAstrophysical Journal, Supplement Series
Jahrgang273
Ausgabenummer2
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 24 Juli 2024

Abstract

Pulsar timing array (PTA) projects have found evidence of a stochastic background of gravitational waves (GWB) using data from an ensemble of pulsars. In the literature, minimal assumptions are made about the signal and noise processes that affect data from these pulsars, such as pulsar spin noise. These assumptions are encoded as uninformative priors in Bayesian searches, though frequentist approaches make similar assumptions. Uninformative priors are not suitable for (noise) properties of pulsars in an ensemble, and they bias estimates of model parameters such as gravitational-wave signal parameters. Both frequentist and Bayesian searches are affected. In this article, more appropriate priors are proposed in the language of hierarchical Bayesian modeling, where the properties of the ensemble of pulsars are jointly described with the properties of the individual components of the ensemble. Results by PTA projects should be reevaluated using hierarchical models.

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Zitieren

Pulsar Timing Arrays Require Hierarchical Models. / van Haasteren, Rutger.
in: Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series, Jahrgang 273, Nr. 2, 23, 24.07.2024.

Publikation: Beitrag in Fachzeitschrift › Artikel › Forschung › Peer-Review

van Haasteren R. Pulsar Timing Arrays Require Hierarchical Models. Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series. 2024 Jul 24;273(2):23. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2406.05081, 10.3847/1538-4365/ad530f
van Haasteren, Rutger. / Pulsar Timing Arrays Require Hierarchical Models. in: Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series. 2024 ; Jahrgang 273, Nr. 2.
Download
@article{84a49c889dfe4161b693f26c57aa99ad,
title = "Pulsar Timing Arrays Require Hierarchical Models",
abstract = "Pulsar timing array (PTA) projects have found evidence of a stochastic background of gravitational waves (GWB) using data from an ensemble of pulsars. In the literature, minimal assumptions are made about the signal and noise processes that affect data from these pulsars, such as pulsar spin noise. These assumptions are encoded as uninformative priors in Bayesian searches, though frequentist approaches make similar assumptions. Uninformative priors are not suitable for (noise) properties of pulsars in an ensemble, and they bias estimates of model parameters such as gravitational-wave signal parameters. Both frequentist and Bayesian searches are affected. In this article, more appropriate priors are proposed in the language of hierarchical Bayesian modeling, where the properties of the ensemble of pulsars are jointly described with the properties of the individual components of the ensemble. Results by PTA projects should be reevaluated using hierarchical models.",
author = "{van Haasteren}, Rutger",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.",
year = "2024",
month = jul,
day = "24",
doi = "10.48550/arXiv.2406.05081",
language = "English",
volume = "273",
journal = "Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series",
issn = "0067-0049",
publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",
number = "2",

}

Download

TY - JOUR

T1 - Pulsar Timing Arrays Require Hierarchical Models

AU - van Haasteren, Rutger

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

PY - 2024/7/24

Y1 - 2024/7/24

N2 - Pulsar timing array (PTA) projects have found evidence of a stochastic background of gravitational waves (GWB) using data from an ensemble of pulsars. In the literature, minimal assumptions are made about the signal and noise processes that affect data from these pulsars, such as pulsar spin noise. These assumptions are encoded as uninformative priors in Bayesian searches, though frequentist approaches make similar assumptions. Uninformative priors are not suitable for (noise) properties of pulsars in an ensemble, and they bias estimates of model parameters such as gravitational-wave signal parameters. Both frequentist and Bayesian searches are affected. In this article, more appropriate priors are proposed in the language of hierarchical Bayesian modeling, where the properties of the ensemble of pulsars are jointly described with the properties of the individual components of the ensemble. Results by PTA projects should be reevaluated using hierarchical models.

AB - Pulsar timing array (PTA) projects have found evidence of a stochastic background of gravitational waves (GWB) using data from an ensemble of pulsars. In the literature, minimal assumptions are made about the signal and noise processes that affect data from these pulsars, such as pulsar spin noise. These assumptions are encoded as uninformative priors in Bayesian searches, though frequentist approaches make similar assumptions. Uninformative priors are not suitable for (noise) properties of pulsars in an ensemble, and they bias estimates of model parameters such as gravitational-wave signal parameters. Both frequentist and Bayesian searches are affected. In this article, more appropriate priors are proposed in the language of hierarchical Bayesian modeling, where the properties of the ensemble of pulsars are jointly described with the properties of the individual components of the ensemble. Results by PTA projects should be reevaluated using hierarchical models.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85199489830&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.48550/arXiv.2406.05081

DO - 10.48550/arXiv.2406.05081

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85199489830

VL - 273

JO - Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series

JF - Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series

SN - 0067-0049

IS - 2

M1 - 23

ER -