Litcius/Paper detail

Constraints on primordial curvature power spectrum with pulsar timing arrays

Zhi-Qiang You, Zhu Yi, You Wu

2023Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics66 citationsDOIOpen Access PDF

Abstract

Abstract The stochastic signal detected by NANOGrav, PPTA, EPTA, and CPTA can be explained by the scalar-induced gravitational waves. In order to determine the scalar-induced gravitational waves model that best fits the stochastic signal, we employ both single- and double-peak parameterizations for the power spectrum of the primordial curvature perturbations, where the single-peak scenarios include the δ-function, box, lognormal, and broken power law model, and the double-peak scenario is described by the double lognormal form. Using Bayesian inference, we find that there is no significant evidence for or against the single-peak scenario over the double-peak model, with log (Bayes factors) among these models ln ℬ < 1. Therefore, we cannot distinguish the different shapes of the power spectrum of the primordial curvature perturbation with the current sensitivity of pulsar timing arrays.

Topics & Concepts

PhysicsCurvaturePulsarSpectral densityGravitational waveAstrophysicsStatistical physicsStatisticsGeometryMathematicsCosmology and Gravitation TheoriesPulsars and Gravitational Waves ResearchGeophysics and Gravity Measurements