Optimal Pulsar Timing Array Strategies with the Deep Synoptic Array
Abstract
Pulsar timing array (PTA) experiments have seen evidence for a nanohertz-frequency gravitational wave background (GWB) through coordinated radio timing observations of millisecond pulsars. The significance of this evidence is expected to grow and the GWB's progenitor(s) uncovered with continued observations, especially as the next generation of radio telescopes comes online. We present a framework for simulating timing observations of a set of pulsars with a set of telescopes to predict the per-pulsar optimal instrument, observing frequency, and integration time. We apply this methodology to the NANOGrav source list of 85 pulsars observed with the Green Bank Telescope, Very Large Array, Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), and the Deep Synoptic Array (DSA), a radio dish array under construction in Nevada. We discuss the dominant noise contributions to the timing precision of these pulsars and show that most are not dominated by intrinsic pulse phase jitter noise. We also determine which pulsars should be timed with DSA and CHIME or only DSA and show that an ab initio DSA PTA is more sensitive than one which uses current instruments. Finally, we solve for the optimal integration time per pulsar, subject to a fixed time budget, that maximizes the GWB signal-to-noise. We show that there is little benefit to optimizing over integration time for these pulsars observed with DSA. Through Monte Carlo realizations of the PTA, we show that the GWB sensitivity improves by ∼ 5% for time-optimized observations compared to the equal-time-per-source scenario with an early-science, fixed source list.
Related
- Optimal Strategies for Gravitational-Wave Memory Detection with Noise Marginalization in Pulsar Timing Arrays
- Opening the Black Box: What Neural Networks Learn from Pulsar Timing Array Data
- Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Confronts Domain Walls and First-Order Phase Transitions as the Pulsar Timing Array Explanations
- A Delayed Rejection Reversible Jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo Method for Multi-Resolution Maps of the Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background with Pulsar Timing Array Data
- Accurate pulsar timing array likelihoods: better low-rank covariance for gravitational wave background
BibTeX
@misc{cohen2026optimal,
title = {{Optimal Pulsar Timing Array Strategies with the Deep Synoptic Array}},
author = {Tyler Cohen and Paul B. Demorest and Jeremy G. Baier and Ryan S. Lynch and Scott M. Ransom and Michael T. Lam and Gabriella Agazie and Akash Anumarlapudi and Anne M. Archibald and Zaven Arzoumanian and Paul T. Baker and Ava L. Battaglia and Paul R. Brook and Anabelle L. Brueggemann and H. Thankful Cromartie and Kathryn Crowter and Megan E. DeCesar and Timothy Dolch and Elizabeth C. Ferrara and William Fiore and Emmanuel Fonseca and Gabriel E. Freedman and Nate Garver-Daniels and Peter A. Gentile and Joseph Glaser and Deborah C. Good and Jeffrey S. Hazboun and Ross J. Jennings and Megan L. Jones and David L. Kaplan and Matthew Kerr and Duncan R. Lorimer and Jing Luo and Hugo E. Marquis and Alexander McEwen and Maura A. McLaughlin and Natasha McMann and Bradley W. Meyers and Cherry Ng and David J. Nice and Timothy T. Pennucci and Benetge B. P. Perera and Nihan S. Pol and Henri A. Radovan and Paul S. Ray and Ann Schmiedekamp and Carl Schmiedekamp and Brent J. Shapiro-Albert and Ingrid H. Stairs and Kevin Stovall and Abhimanyu Susobhanan and Joseph K. Swiggum and Haley M. Wahl},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.00836},
eprint = {2610.00836},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.00836},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Optimal Pulsar Timing Array Strategies with the Deep Synoptic Array
AU - Tyler Cohen
AU - Paul B. Demorest
AU - Jeremy G. Baier
AU - Ryan S. Lynch
AU - Scott M. Ransom
AU - Michael T. Lam
AU - Gabriella Agazie
AU - Akash Anumarlapudi
AU - Anne M. Archibald
AU - Zaven Arzoumanian
AU - Paul T. Baker
AU - Ava L. Battaglia
AU - Paul R. Brook
AU - Anabelle L. Brueggemann
AU - H. Thankful Cromartie
AU - Kathryn Crowter
AU - Megan E. DeCesar
AU - Timothy Dolch
AU - Elizabeth C. Ferrara
AU - William Fiore
AU - Emmanuel Fonseca
AU - Gabriel E. Freedman
AU - Nate Garver-Daniels
AU - Peter A. Gentile
AU - Joseph Glaser
AU - Deborah C. Good
AU - Jeffrey S. Hazboun
AU - Ross J. Jennings
AU - Megan L. Jones
AU - David L. Kaplan
AU - Matthew Kerr
AU - Duncan R. Lorimer
AU - Jing Luo
AU - Hugo E. Marquis
AU - Alexander McEwen
AU - Maura A. McLaughlin
AU - Natasha McMann
AU - Bradley W. Meyers
AU - Cherry Ng
AU - David J. Nice
AU - Timothy T. Pennucci
AU - Benetge B. P. Perera
AU - Nihan S. Pol
AU - Henri A. Radovan
AU - Paul S. Ray
AU - Ann Schmiedekamp
AU - Carl Schmiedekamp
AU - Brent J. Shapiro-Albert
AU - Ingrid H. Stairs
AU - Kevin Stovall
AU - Abhimanyu Susobhanan
AU - Joseph K. Swiggum
AU - Haley M. Wahl
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.00836
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.00836
AB - Pulsar timing array (PTA) experiments have seen evidence for a nanohertz-frequency gravitational wave background (GWB) through coordinated radio timing observations of millisecond pulsars. The significance of this evidence is expected to grow and the GWB's progenitor(s) uncovered with continued observations, especially as the next generation of radio telescopes comes online. We present a framework for simulating timing observations of a set of pulsars with a set of telescopes to predict the per-pulsar optimal instrument, observing frequency, and integration time. We apply this methodology to the NANOGrav source list of 85 pulsars observed with the Green Bank Telescope, Very Large Array, Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), and the Deep Synoptic Array (DSA), a radio dish array under construction in Nevada. We discuss the dominant noise contributions to the timing precision of these pulsars and show that most are not dominated by intrinsic pulse phase jitter noise. We also determine which pulsars should be timed with DSA and CHIME or only DSA and show that an ab initio DSA PTA is more sensitive than one which uses current instruments. Finally, we solve for the optimal integration time per pulsar, subject to a fixed time budget, that maximizes the GWB signal-to-noise. We show that there is little benefit to optimizing over integration time for these pulsars observed with DSA. Through Monte Carlo realizations of the PTA, we show that the GWB sensitivity improves by ∼ 5% for time-optimized observations compared to the equal-time-per-source scenario with an early-science, fixed source list.
ER -