The NANOGrav 12.5 yr Data Set: A Computationally Efficient Eccentric Binary Search Pipeline and Constraints on an Eccentric Supermassive Binary Candidate in 3C 66B
Authors: Agazie Gabriella , Arzoumanian Zaven , Baker Paul T. , Bécsy Bence , Blecha Laura , Blumer Harsha , Brazier Adam , Brook Paul R. , Burke-Spolaor Sarah , Casey-Clyde J. Andrew , Charisi Maria , Chatterjee Shami , Cheeseboro Belinda D. , Cohen Tyler , Cordes James M. , Cornish Neil J. , Crawford Fronefield , Cromartie H. Thankful , DeCesar Megan E. , Demorest Paul B. , Dey Lankeswar , Dolch Timothy , Ellis Justin A. , Ferdman Robert D. , Ferrara Elizabeth C. , Fiore William , Fonseca Emmanuel , Freedman Gabriel E. , Garver-Daniels Nate , Gentile Peter A. , Glaser Joseph , Good Deborah C. , Gopakumar Achamveedu , Gültekin Kayhan , Hazboun Jeffrey S. , Jennings Ross J. , Johnson Aaron D. , Jones Megan L. , Kaiser Andrew R. , Kaplan David L. , Kelley Luke Zoltan , 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. , Meyers Patrick M. , Mingarelli Chiara M. F. , Mitridate Andrea , Ng Cherry , Nice David J. , Ocker Stella Koch , Olum Ken D. , Pennucci Timothy T. , Pol Nihan S. , Radovan Henri A. , Ransom Scott M. , Ray Paul S. , Romano Joseph D. , Sardesai Shashwat C. , Schmitz Kai , Siemens Xavier , Simon Joseph , Siwek Magdalena S. , Sosa Fiscella Sophia V. , Spiewak Renée , 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. , Witt Caitlin A. , Young Olivia ,   The NANOGrav Collaboration
Published: March 2024

The radio galaxy 3C 66B has been hypothesized to host a supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) at its center based on electromagnetic observations. Its apparent 1.05 yr period and low redshift (∼0.02) make it an interesting testbed to search for low-frequency gravitational waves (GWs) using pulsar timing array (PTA) experiments. This source has been subjected to multiple searches for continuous GWs from a circular SMBHB, resulting in progressively more stringent constraints on its GW amplitude and chirp mass. In this paper, we develop a pipeline for performing Bayesian targeted searches for eccentric SMBHBs in PTA data sets, and test its efficacy by applying it to simulated data sets with varying injected signal strengths. We also search for a realistic eccentric SMBHB source in 3C 66B using the NANOGrav 12.5 yr data set employing PTA signal models containing Earth term-only as well as Earth+pulsar term contributions using this pipeline. Due to limitations in our PTA signal model, we get meaningful results only when the initial eccentricity e
0 < 0.5 and the symmetric mass ratio η > 0.1. We find no evidence for an eccentric SMBHB signal in our data, and therefore place 95% upper limits on the PTA signal amplitude of 88.1 ± 3.7 ns for the Earth term-only and 81.74 ± 0.86 ns for the Earth+pulsar term searches for e
0 < 0.5 and η > 0.1. Similar 95% upper limits on the chirp mass are (1.98 ± 0.05) × 109 and (1.81 ± 0.01) × 109
M
☉. These upper limits, while less stringent than those calculated from a circular binary search in the NANOGrav 12.5 yr data set, are consistent with the SMBHB model of 3C 66B developed from electromagnetic observations.