Module 3: Creating a tempo2 plugin to search for gravitational waves

Overview

• Learn how to create a tempo2 plugin to process multiple pulsar data sets
• Analyse pulsar timing residuals using various statistical tests
• Develop your knowledge of the programming languages C or C++ (the basis of many pulsar software packages)
• Access the IPTA data challenge

• TEMPO2 documentation online
• TEMPO2 tutorial on making plugins (p. 17)
• Use your web browser to find sites to help you to program in C and C++
• The IPTA data challenge
• Hellings & Downs (1983; ApJ) ”Upper limits on the isotropic gravitational radiation background from pulsar timing analysis”
• Hobbs, G et al. (2009; MNRAS) ”TEMPO2: a new pulsar timing package - III. Gravitational wave simulation”
• Jenet et al. (2005; ApJ) ”Detecting the Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background Using Pulsar Timing”

If you have trouble writing the plugin contact: David Champion, Nathan Garver-Daniels, George Hobbs, Mike Keith, Ryan Shannon
If you have trouble with the statistical analysis: Fredrick Jenet, Yuri Levin, Duncan Lorimer, Dick Manchester, Maura McLaughlin, Ingrid Stairs, Dan Stinebring.

The following people will be at the science workshop who have developed tempo2 plugins: Sarah Buchner, Sarah Burke Spolaor, David Champion, Xinping Deng, George Hobbs, Gemma Janssen, Michael Keith, Vikram Ravi, Ryan Shannon, Rutger van Haasteren, Joris Verbiest, Jingbo Wang, Xiaopeng You.

The following people have experience in parameterising data sets and searching for gravitational waves:
Matthew Bailes, William Coles, Jim Cordes, Paul Demorest, Fredrick Jenet, Kejia Lee, Yuri Levin, Andrea Lommen, Dick Manchester, Scott Ransom and Ryan Shannon.

The IPTA data challenge has been created by Fredrick Jenet, Michael Keith and Kejia Lee.