Gravitational Wave Astrophysics with Pulsar Timing Arrays

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

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2. Introduction

   • Chiara M. F. Mingarelli

   Pages 1-47

3. Characterizing Gravitational Wave Stochastic Background Anisotropy with Pulsar Timing Arrays

   • Chiara M. F. Mingarelli

   Pages 49-70

4. Effect of Small Pulsar Distance Variations in Stochastic GW Background Searches with PTAs

   • Chiara M. F. Mingarelli

   Pages 71-90

5. Observing the Dynamics of Supermassive Black Hole Binaries with Pulsar Timing Arrays

   • Chiara M. F. Mingarelli

   Pages 91-104

6. Conclusions

   • Chiara M. F. Mingarelli

   Pages 105-107

7. Back Matter

   Pages 109-119

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This Ph.D. thesis from the University of Birmingham UK opens new research avenues in the use of Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs) to study populations of super-massive black hole binaries through gravitational-wave observations. Chiara Mingarelli's work has shown for the first time that PTAs can yield information about the non-linear dynamics of the gravitational field. This is possible because PTAs capture, at the same time, radiation from the same source emitted at stages of its binary evolution that are separated by thousands of years.  Dr. Mingarelli, who is the recipient of a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship, has also been amongst the pioneers of the technique that will allow us to probe the level of anisotropy of the diffuse gravitational-wave background radiation from the whole population of super-massive black hole binaries in the Universe. Indeed, future observations will provide us with hints about the distribution of galaxies harboring massive black holes and insights into end products of hierarchical mergers of galaxies.

• Anisotropic Stochastic GW Background searches
• CMB-like Stochastic GW Background
• Coordinate Frames in Astrophysics
• Dipole and Quadrupole Overlap Reduction functions
• Galaxies with Massive Black Holes
• Gravitational Wave Observations
• Hellings and Downs Curve
• Overlap Reduction Functions
• Small Pulsar Distance Variations
• Super-massive black hole binaries

• Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy TAPIR, California Institute of Technology Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy TAPIR, PASADENA, USA

  Chiara M. F. Mingarelli

Chiara Mingarelli received a BSc Double Honours Mathematics and Physics from Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada; 2006), an MSc in Astrophysics and Cosmology from the University of Bologna, (Bologna, Italy; 2009) and a PhD from the University of Birmingham (Birmingham, UK; 2014). She currently holds a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship--a competitive 3-year prize fellowship funded by the European Union.

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