A Generalized Template Matching Algorithm for Correcting Jitter Noise in Pulsar Timing

Authors:
Open Access
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Pulsar timing is a valuable source of high-precision astrophysical measurements that can be used to probe gravitational physics, including by detecting gravitational waves. An important factor limiting the precision of these measurements is pulse jitter; i.e., intrinsic, short-timescale variation in the amplitude and shape of pulses from a given pulsar. Because conventional pulse time-of-arrival (TOA) measurement relies on template matching, which assumes the average pulse shape is stable, such variation gives rise to jitter noise in TOA measurements. Here, we introduce a generalization of the template matching technique, making use of principal component analysis, which can account for variations in pulse shape. We compare this technique to other proposals for mitigating jitter noise in pulsar timing, paying particular attention to the possibility of corrections absorbing other astrophysical signals of interest, and we demonstrate its effectiveness using simulated data.
Funding Information
  • National Science Foundation (1430284)
  • National Science Foundation (2020265)
  • National Science Foundation (2607948)

This publication has 36 references indexed in Scilit: