The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Detector Characterization and Noise Budget
Authors: Agazie Gabriella , Anumarlapudi Akash , Archibald Anne M. , Arzoumanian Zaven , Baker Paul T. , Bécsy Bence , Blecha Laura , Brazier Adam , Brook Paul R. , Burke-Spolaor Sarah , Charisi Maria , Chatterjee Shami , Cohen Tyler , Cordes James M. , Cornish Neil J. , Crawford Fronefield , Cromartie H. Thankful , Crowter Kathryn , DeCesar Megan E. , Demorest Paul B. , Dolch Timothy , Drachler Brendan , Ferrara Elizabeth C. , Fiore William , Fonseca Emmanuel , Freedman Gabriel E. , Garver-Daniels Nate , Gentile Peter A. , Glaser Joseph , Good Deborah C. , Guertin Lydia , Gültekin Kayhan , Hazboun Jeffrey S. , Jennings Ross J. , Johnson Aaron D. , Jones Megan L. , Kaiser Andrew R. , Kaplan David L. , Kelley Luke Zoltan , Kerr Matthew , Key Joey S. , Laal Nima , Lam Michael T. , Lamb William G. , W. Lazio T. Joseph , Lewandowska Natalia , Liu Tingting , Lorimer Duncan R. , Luo Jing , Lynch Ryan S. , Ma Chung-Pei , Madison Dustin R. , McEwen Alexander , McKee James W. , McLaughlin Maura A. , McMann Natasha , Meyers Bradley W. , Mingarelli Chiara M. F. , Mitridate Andrea , Ng Cherry , Nice David J. , Ocker Stella Koch , Olum Ken D. , Pennucci Timothy T. , Perera Benetge B. P. , Pol Nihan S. , Radovan Henri A. , Ransom Scott M. , Ray Paul S. , Romano Joseph D. , Sardesai Shashwat C. , Schmiedekamp Ann , Schmiedekamp Carl , Schmitz Kai , Shapiro-Albert Brent J. , Siemens Xavier , Simon Joseph , Siwek Magdalena S. , Stairs Ingrid H. , Stinebring Daniel R. , Stovall Kevin , Susobhanan Abhimanyu , Swiggum Joseph K. , Taylor Stephen R. , Turner Jacob E. , Unal Caner , Vallisneri Michele , Vigeland Sarah J. , Wahl Haley M. , Witt Caitlin A. , Young Olivia ,   The NANOGrav Collaboration
Published: June 2023

Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) are galactic-scale gravitational wave (GW) detectors. Each individual arm, composed of a millisecond pulsar, a radio telescope, and a kiloparsecs-long path, differs in its properties but, in aggregate, can be used to extract low-frequency GW signals. We present a noise and sensitivity analysis to accompany the NANOGrav 15 yr data release and associated papers, along with an in-depth introduction to PTA noise models. As a first step in our analysis, we characterize each individual pulsar data set with three types of white-noise parameters and two red-noise parameters. These parameters, along with the timing model and, particularly, a piecewise-constant model for the time-variable dispersion measure, determine the sensitivity curve over the low-frequency GW band we are searching. We tabulate information for all of the pulsars in this data release and present some representative sensitivity curves. We then combine the individual pulsar sensitivities using a signal-to-noise ratio statistic to calculate the global sensitivity of the PTA to a stochastic background of GWs, obtaining a minimum noise characteristic strain of 7 × 10−15 at 5 nHz. A power-law-integrated analysis shows rough agreement with the amplitudes recovered in NANOGrav’s 15 yr GW background analysis. While our phenomenological noise model does not model all known physical effects explicitly, it provides an accurate characterization of the noise in the data while preserving sensitivity to multiple classes of GW signals.