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. 2015 Jul 24;115(4):041101.
doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.041101. Epub 2015 Jul 22.

Limits on Anisotropy in the Nanohertz Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background

S R Taylor  1   2 , C M F Mingarelli  3   4   5 , J R Gair  2 , A Sesana  5   6 , G Theureau  7   8   9 , S Babak  6 , C G Bassa  10   11 , P Brem  6 , M Burgay  12 , R N Caballero  4 , D J Champion  4 , I Cognard  7   8 , G Desvignes  4 , L Guillemot  7   8 , J W T Hessels  10   13 , G H Janssen  10   11 , R Karuppusamy  4 , M Kramer  4   11 , A Lassus  4   7 , P Lazarus  4 , L Lentati  14 , K Liu  4 , S Osłowski  4   15 , D Perrodin  12 , A Petiteau  16 , A Possenti  12 , M B Purver  11 , P A Rosado  17   18 , S A Sanidas  11   13 , R Smits  10 , B Stappers  11 , C Tiburzi  12   19 , R van Haasteren  1 , A Vecchio  5 , J P W Verbiest  4   15 ; EPTA Collaboration
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Free article

Limits on Anisotropy in the Nanohertz Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background

S R Taylor et al. Phys Rev Lett. .
Free article

Abstract

The paucity of observed supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) may imply that the gravitational wave background (GWB) from this population is anisotropic, rendering existing analyses suboptimal. We present the first constraints on the angular distribution of a nanohertz stochastic GWB from circular, inspiral-driven SMBHBs using the 2015 European Pulsar Timing Array data. Our analysis of the GWB in the ~2-90 nHz band shows consistency with isotropy, with the strain amplitude in l>0 spherical harmonic multipoles ≲40% of the monopole value. We expect that these more general techniques will become standard tools to probe the angular distribution of source populations.

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