The NANOGrav 15 yr data set: Posterior predictive checks for
gravitational-wave detection with pulsar timing arrays
The NANOGrav 15 yr data set: Posterior predictive checks for
gravitational-wave detection with pulsar timing arrays
Pulsar-timing-array experiments have reported evidence for a stochastic background of nanohertz gravitational waves consistent with the signal expected from a population of supermassive--black-hole binaries. Those analyses assume power-law spectra for intrinsic pulsar noise and for the background, as well as a Hellings--Downs cross-correlation pattern among the gravitational-wave--induced residuals across pulsars. …