{
  "abstract": "We quantify pulsar timing array (PTA) sensitivity to anisotropy in the gravitational-wave (GW) background using the cross-correlation-based Fisher information matrix in the pixel and spherical harmonic bases. We use a set of simulations to empirically determine scaling relations of a PTA’s sensitivity to anisotropy with the number of pulsars N psr in the array, the error δt on the times of arrival, the frequency f GW of the GWs, and the angular scale ΔΩ of the anisotropy. The sensitivity scales approximately as N psr 0.8 , δt −0.08 , and ΔΩ 1.6 − ΔΩ 2.1 (depending on the ranges of ℓ and m under consideration). In addition, we use realistic simulations to project the NANOGrav PTA sensitivity to a 30 yr baseline and quantify the growth in sensitivity at several time slices. Except at the lowest frequencies, we find negligible effect on sensitivity through increasing the observation duration only. Finally, we introduce a multi-resolution pixel basis motivated by the large dependence of the sensitivity on sky location, and demonstrate the operation of the basis through a set of injections and recoveries.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2608.09781",
  "author_total": 118,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Taha Moursy"
    },
    {
      "name": "Nihan Pol"
    },
    {
      "name": "Gabriella Agazie"
    },
    {
      "name": "Nikita Agarwal"
    },
    {
      "name": "Akash Anumarlapudi"
    },
    {
      "name": "Anne Archibald"
    },
    {
      "name": "Zaven Arzoumanian"
    },
    {
      "name": "Anjana Ashok"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jeremy Baier"
    },
    {
      "name": "Paul Baker"
    },
    {
      "name": "Bence Bécsy"
    },
    {
      "name": "Laura Blecha"
    },
    {
      "name": "Adam Brazier"
    },
    {
      "name": "Paul Brook"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sarah Burke-Spolaor"
    },
    {
      "name": "Rand Burnette"
    },
    {
      "name": "Robin Case"
    },
    {
      "name": "J. Andrew Casey-Clyde"
    },
    {
      "name": "Maria Charisi"
    },
    {
      "name": "Shami Chatterjee"
    },
    {
      "name": "Tyler Cohen"
    },
    {
      "name": "James Cordes"
    },
    {
      "name": "Neil Cornish"
    },
    {
      "name": "Fronefield Crawford"
    },
    {
      "name": "H. Thankful Cromartie"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kathryn Crowter"
    },
    {
      "name": "Megan Decesar"
    },
    {
      "name": "Paul Demorest"
    },
    {
      "name": "Heling Deng"
    },
    {
      "name": "Lankeswar Dey"
    },
    {
      "name": "Timothy Dolch"
    },
    {
      "name": "Graham Doskoch"
    },
    {
      "name": "Elizabeth Ferrara"
    },
    {
      "name": "William Fiore"
    },
    {
      "name": "Emmanuel Fonseca"
    },
    {
      "name": "Gabriel Freedman"
    },
    {
      "name": "Emiko Gardiner"
    },
    {
      "name": "Nate Garver-Daniels"
    },
    {
      "name": "Peter Gentile"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kyle Gersbach"
    },
    {
      "name": "Joseph Glaser"
    },
    {
      "name": "Deborah Good"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kayhan Gültekin"
    },
    {
      "name": "Aiden Gundersen"
    },
    {
      "name": "C. Harris"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jeffrey Hazboun"
    },
    {
      "name": "Ross Jennings"
    },
    {
      "name": "Aaron Johnson"
    },
    {
      "name": "Megan Jones"
    },
    {
      "name": "David Kaplan"
    },
    {
      "name": "Anala Sreekumar"
    },
    {
      "name": "Luke Zoltan Kelley"
    },
    {
      "name": "Matthew Kerr"
    },
    {
      "name": "Joey Key"
    },
    {
      "name": "Nima Laal"
    },
    {
      "name": "Michael Lam"
    },
    {
      "name": "William Lamb"
    },
    {
      "name": "Bjorn Larsen"
    },
    {
      "name": "T. Joseph W. Lazio"
    },
    {
      "name": "Natalia Lewandowska"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/eem9rjcvyfgge.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3847/1538-4357/ae9759",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "eem9rjcvyfgge",
  "issns": [
    "0004-637X",
    "1538-4357"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://hal.science/hal-05842599v1",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "hal",
      "0.phys"
    ],
    [
      "hal",
      "1.phys.astr"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3103|Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7202198547",
  "pdf_url": "https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae9759/pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-04",
  "publisher": "American Astronomical Society",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/eem9rjcvyfgge.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:02Z",
      "native_id": "hal-05842599",
      "source": "hal",
      "url": "https://hal.science/hal-05842599v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "openalex:3103|Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research",
      "subfield": "high-energy-astrophysics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Pulsar Timing Array Sensitivity to Anisotropy: Empirical Sensitivity Curves, Scaling Relations, and the Multi-resolution Pixel Basis",
  "title_text": "Pulsar Timing Array Sensitivity to Anisotropy: Empirical Sensitivity Curves, Scaling Relations, and the Multi-resolution Pixel Basis",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:18:02Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/eem9rjcvyfgge",
  "venue": "The Astrophysical Journal",
  "versions": []
}