The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Search for Gravitational-wave Memory

Gabriella Agazie; Akash Anumarlapudi; Anne M. Archibald; Zaven Arzoumanian; Jeremy G. Baier; Paul T. Baker; Bence Bécsy; Laura Blecha; Adam Brazier; Paul R. Brook; Sarah Burke-Spolaor; Rand Burnette; J. Andrew Casey-Clyde; Maria Charisi; Shami Chatterjee; Tyler Cohen; James M. Cordes; Neil J. Cornish; Fronefield Crawford; H. Thankful Cromartie; Kathryn Crowter; Megan E. DeCesar; Paul B. Demorest; Heling Deng; Lankeswar Dey; Timothy Dolch; Elizabeth C. Ferrara; William Fiore; Emmanuel Fonseca; Gabriel E. Freedman; Emiko C. Gardiner; Nate Garver-Daniels; Peter A. Gentile; Kyle A. Gersbach; Joseph Glaser; Deborah C. Good; Kayhan Gültekin; Jeffrey S. Hazboun; Ross J. Jennings; Aaron D. Johnson; Megan L. Jones; David L. Kaplan; Luke Zoltan Kelley; Matthew Kerr; Joey S. Key; Nima Laal; Michael T. Lam; William G. Lamb; Bjorn Larsen; T. Joseph W. Lazio; Natalia Lewandowska; Tingting Liu; Duncan R. Lorimer; Jing Luo; Ryan S. Lynch; Chung Pei Ma; Dustin R. Madison; Alexander McEwen; James W. McKee; Maura A. McLaughlin; Natasha McMann; Bradley W. Meyers; Patrick M. Meyers; Chiara M.F. Mingarelli; Andrea Mitridate; Priyamvada Natarajan; Cherry Ng; David J. Nice; Stella Koch Ocker; Ken D. Olum; Timothy T. Pennucci; Benetge B.P. Perera; Polina Petrov; Nihan S. Pol; Henri A. Radovan; Scott M. Ransom; Paul S. Ray; Jessie C. Runnoe; Alexander Saffer; Shashwat C. Sardesai; Ann Schmiedekamp; Carl Schmiedekamp; Kai Schmitz; Brent J. Shapiro-Albert; Xavier Siemens; Joseph Simon; Magdalena S. Siwek; Sophia V.Sosa Fiscella; Ingrid H. Stairs; Daniel R. Stinebring; Kevin Stovall; Jerry P. Sun; Abhimanyu Susobhanan; Joseph K. Swiggum; Jacob Taylor; Stephen R. Taylor; Jacob E. Turner; Caner Unal; Michele Vallisneri; Rutger van Haasteren; Sarah J. Vigeland; Haley M. Wahl; Caitlin A. Witt; David Wright; Olivia Young

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/add874

The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Search for Gravitational-wave Memory

Gabriella Agazie
, Akash Anumarlapudi
, Anne M. Archibald
, Zaven Arzoumanian
, Jeremy G. Baier
, Paul T. Baker
, Bence Bécsy
, Laura Blecha
, Adam Brazier
, Paul R. Brook
, Sarah Burke-Spolaor
, Rand Burnette
, J. Andrew Casey-Clyde
, Maria Charisi
, Shami Chatterjee
, Tyler Cohen
, James M. Cordes
, Neil J. Cornish
, Fronefield Crawford
, H. Thankful Cromartie

Kathryn Crowter, Megan E. DeCesar, Paul B. Demorest, Heling Deng, Lankeswar Dey, Timothy Dolch, Elizabeth C. Ferrara, William Fiore, Emmanuel Fonseca, Gabriel E. Freedman, Emiko C. Gardiner, Nate Garver-Daniels, Peter A. Gentile, Kyle A. Gersbach, Joseph Glaser, Deborah C. Good, Kayhan Gültekin, Jeffrey S. Hazboun, Ross J. Jennings, Aaron D. Johnson, Megan L. Jones, David L. Kaplan, Luke Zoltan Kelley, Matthew Kerr, Joey S. Key, Nima Laal, Michael T. Lam, William G. Lamb, Bjorn Larsen, T. Joseph W. Lazio, Natalia Lewandowska, Tingting Liu, Duncan R. Lorimer, Jing Luo, Ryan S. Lynch, Chung Pei Ma, Dustin R. Madison, Alexander McEwen, James W. McKee, Maura A. McLaughlin, Natasha McMann, Bradley W. Meyers, Patrick M. Meyers, Chiara M.F. Mingarelli, Andrea Mitridate, Priyamvada Natarajan, Cherry Ng, David J. Nice, Stella Koch Ocker, Ken D. Olum, Timothy T. Pennucci, Benetge B.P. Perera, Polina Petrov, Nihan S. Pol, Henri A. Radovan, Scott M. Ransom, Paul S. Ray, Jessie C. Runnoe, Alexander Saffer, Shashwat C. Sardesai, Ann Schmiedekamp, Carl Schmiedekamp, Kai Schmitz, Brent J. Shapiro-Albert, Xavier Siemens, Joseph Simon, Magdalena S. Siwek, Sophia V.Sosa Fiscella, Ingrid H. Stairs, Daniel R. Stinebring, Kevin Stovall, Jerry P. Sun, Abhimanyu Susobhanan, Joseph K. Swiggum, Jacob Taylor, Stephen R. Taylor, Jacob E. Turner, Caner Unal, Michele Vallisneri, Rutger van Haasteren, Sarah J. Vigeland, Haley M. Wahl, Caitlin A. Witt, David Wright, Olivia Young

Physics and Astronomy

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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California Institute of Technology
Naval Research Laboratory
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Harvard & Smithsonian
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Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
Middle East Technical University
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Bogazici University
Northwestern University
Adler Planetarium

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present the results of a search for nonlinear gravitational-wave (GW) memory in the NANOGrav 15 yr data set. We find no significant evidence for memory signals in the data set, with a maximum Bayes factor of 3.1 in favor of a model including memory. We therefore place upper limits on the strain of potential GW memory events as a function of sky location and observing epoch. We find upper limits that are not always more constraining than previous NANOGrav results. We show that it is likely due to the increase in common red noise between the 12.5 and 15 yr NANOGrav data sets.

Original language	English
Article number	5
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	987
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/add874
State	Published - Jul 1 2025

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10.3847/1538-4357/add874

Cite this

Agazie, G., Anumarlapudi, A., Archibald, A. M., Arzoumanian, Z., Baier, J. G., Baker, P. T., Bécsy, B., Blecha, L., Brazier, A., Brook, P. R., Burke-Spolaor, S., Burnette, R., Casey-Clyde, J. A., Charisi, M., Chatterjee, S., Cohen, T., Cordes, J. M., Cornish, N. J., Crawford, F., ... Young, O. (2025). The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Search for Gravitational-wave Memory. Astrophysical Journal, 987(1), Article 5. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/add874

@article{27a29b34b79742419a671be7c05749b8,

title = "The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Search for Gravitational-wave Memory",

abstract = "We present the results of a search for nonlinear gravitational-wave (GW) memory in the NANOGrav 15 yr data set. We find no significant evidence for memory signals in the data set, with a maximum Bayes factor of 3.1 in favor of a model including memory. We therefore place upper limits on the strain of potential GW memory events as a function of sky location and observing epoch. We find upper limits that are not always more constraining than previous NANOGrav results. We show that it is likely due to the increase in common red noise between the 12.5 and 15 yr NANOGrav data sets.",

author = "Gabriella Agazie and Akash Anumarlapudi and Archibald, \{Anne M.\} and Zaven Arzoumanian and Baier, \{Jeremy G.\} and Baker, \{Paul T.\} and Bence B{\'e}csy and Laura Blecha and Adam Brazier and Brook, \{Paul R.\} and Sarah Burke-Spolaor and Rand Burnette and Casey-Clyde, \{J. Andrew\} and Maria Charisi and Shami Chatterjee and Tyler Cohen and Cordes, \{James M.\} and Cornish, \{Neil J.\} and Fronefield Crawford and Cromartie, \{H. Thankful\} and Kathryn Crowter and DeCesar, \{Megan E.\} and Demorest, \{Paul B.\} and Heling Deng and Lankeswar Dey and Timothy Dolch and Ferrara, \{Elizabeth C.\} and William Fiore and Emmanuel Fonseca and Freedman, \{Gabriel E.\} and Gardiner, \{Emiko C.\} and Nate Garver-Daniels and Gentile, \{Peter A.\} and Gersbach, \{Kyle A.\} and Joseph Glaser and Good, \{Deborah C.\} and Kayhan G{\"u}ltekin and Hazboun, \{Jeffrey S.\} and Jennings, \{Ross J.\} and Johnson, \{Aaron D.\} and Jones, \{Megan L.\} and Kaplan, \{David L.\} and Kelley, \{Luke Zoltan\} and Matthew Kerr and Key, \{Joey S.\} and Nima Laal and Lam, \{Michael T.\} and Lamb, \{William G.\} and Bjorn Larsen and Lazio, \{T. Joseph W.\} and Natalia Lewandowska and Tingting Liu and Lorimer, \{Duncan R.\} and Jing Luo and Lynch, \{Ryan S.\} and Ma, \{Chung Pei\} and Madison, \{Dustin R.\} and Alexander McEwen and McKee, \{James W.\} and McLaughlin, \{Maura A.\} and Natasha McMann and Meyers, \{Bradley W.\} and Meyers, \{Patrick M.\} and Mingarelli, \{Chiara M.F.\} and Andrea Mitridate and Priyamvada Natarajan and Cherry Ng and Nice, \{David J.\} and Ocker, \{Stella Koch\} and Olum, \{Ken D.\} and Pennucci, \{Timothy T.\} and Perera, \{Benetge B.P.\} and Polina Petrov and Pol, \{Nihan S.\} and Radovan, \{Henri A.\} and Ransom, \{Scott M.\} and Ray, \{Paul S.\} and Runnoe, \{Jessie C.\} and Alexander Saffer and Sardesai, \{Shashwat C.\} and Ann Schmiedekamp and Carl Schmiedekamp and Kai Schmitz and Shapiro-Albert, \{Brent J.\} and Xavier Siemens and Joseph Simon and Siwek, \{Magdalena S.\} and Fiscella, \{Sophia V.Sosa\} and Stairs, \{Ingrid H.\} and Stinebring, \{Daniel R.\} and Kevin Stovall and Sun, \{Jerry P.\} and Abhimanyu Susobhanan and Swiggum, \{Joseph K.\} and Jacob Taylor and Taylor, \{Stephen R.\} and Turner, \{Jacob E.\} and Caner Unal and Michele Vallisneri and \{van Haasteren\}, Rutger and Vigeland, \{Sarah J.\} and Wahl, \{Haley M.\} and Witt, \{Caitlin A.\} and David Wright and Olivia Young",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.",

year = "2025",

month = jul,

day = "1",

doi = "10.3847/1538-4357/add874",

language = "English",

volume = "987",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal",

issn = "0004-637X",

publisher = "American Astronomical Society",

number = "1",

}

Agazie, G, Anumarlapudi, A, Archibald, AM, Arzoumanian, Z, Baier, JG, Baker, PT, Bécsy, B, Blecha, L, Brazier, A, Brook, PR, Burke-Spolaor, S, Burnette, R, Casey-Clyde, JA, Charisi, M, Chatterjee, S, Cohen, T, Cordes, JM, Cornish, NJ, Crawford, F, Cromartie, HT, Crowter, K, DeCesar, ME, Demorest, PB, Deng, H, Dey, L, Dolch, T, Ferrara, EC, Fiore, W, Fonseca, E, Freedman, GE, Gardiner, EC, Garver-Daniels, N, Gentile, PA, Gersbach, KA, Glaser, J, Good, DC, Gültekin, K, Hazboun, JS, Jennings, RJ, Johnson, AD, Jones, ML, Kaplan, DL, Kelley, LZ, Kerr, M, Key, JS, Laal, N, Lam, MT, Lamb, WG, Larsen, B, Lazio, TJW, Lewandowska, N, Liu, T, Lorimer, DR, Luo, J, Lynch, RS, Ma, CP, Madison, DR, McEwen, A, McKee, JW, McLaughlin, MA, McMann, N, Meyers, BW, Meyers, PM, Mingarelli, CMF, Mitridate, A, Natarajan, P, Ng, C, Nice, DJ, Ocker, SK, Olum, KD, Pennucci, TT, Perera, BBP, Petrov, P, Pol, NS, Radovan, HA, Ransom, SM, Ray, PS, Runnoe, JC, Saffer, A, Sardesai, SC, Schmiedekamp, A, Schmiedekamp, C, Schmitz, K, Shapiro-Albert, BJ, Siemens, X, Simon, J, Siwek, MS, Fiscella, SVS, Stairs, IH, Stinebring, DR, Stovall, K, Sun, JP, Susobhanan, A, Swiggum, JK, Taylor, J, Taylor, SR, Turner, JE, Unal, C, Vallisneri, M, van Haasteren, R, Vigeland, SJ, Wahl, HM, Witt, CA, Wright, D & Young, O 2025, 'The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Search for Gravitational-wave Memory', Astrophysical Journal, vol. 987, no. 1, 5. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/add874

TY - JOUR

T1 - The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set

T2 - Search for Gravitational-wave Memory

AU - Agazie, Gabriella

AU - Anumarlapudi, Akash

AU - Archibald, Anne M.

AU - Arzoumanian, Zaven

AU - Baier, Jeremy G.

AU - Baker, Paul T.

AU - Bécsy, Bence

AU - Blecha, Laura

AU - Brazier, Adam

AU - Brook, Paul R.

AU - Burke-Spolaor, Sarah

AU - Burnette, Rand

AU - Casey-Clyde, J. Andrew

AU - Charisi, Maria

AU - Chatterjee, Shami

AU - Cohen, Tyler

AU - Cordes, James M.

AU - Cornish, Neil J.

AU - Crawford, Fronefield

AU - Cromartie, H. Thankful

AU - Crowter, Kathryn

AU - DeCesar, Megan E.

AU - Demorest, Paul B.

AU - Deng, Heling

AU - Dey, Lankeswar

AU - Dolch, Timothy

AU - Ferrara, Elizabeth C.

AU - Fiore, William

AU - Fonseca, Emmanuel

AU - Freedman, Gabriel E.

AU - Gardiner, Emiko C.

AU - Garver-Daniels, Nate

AU - Gentile, Peter A.

AU - Gersbach, Kyle A.

AU - Glaser, Joseph

AU - Good, Deborah C.

AU - Gültekin, Kayhan

AU - Hazboun, Jeffrey S.

AU - Jennings, Ross J.

AU - Johnson, Aaron D.

AU - Jones, Megan L.

AU - Kaplan, David L.

AU - Kelley, Luke Zoltan

AU - Kerr, Matthew

AU - Key, Joey S.

AU - Laal, Nima

AU - Lam, Michael T.

AU - Lamb, William G.

AU - Larsen, Bjorn

AU - Lazio, T. Joseph W.

AU - Lewandowska, Natalia

AU - Liu, Tingting

AU - Lorimer, Duncan R.

AU - Luo, Jing

AU - Lynch, Ryan S.

AU - Ma, Chung Pei

AU - Madison, Dustin R.

AU - McEwen, Alexander

AU - McKee, James W.

AU - McLaughlin, Maura A.

AU - McMann, Natasha

AU - Meyers, Bradley W.

AU - Meyers, Patrick M.

AU - Mingarelli, Chiara M.F.

AU - Mitridate, Andrea

AU - Natarajan, Priyamvada

AU - Ng, Cherry

AU - Nice, David J.

AU - Ocker, Stella Koch

AU - Olum, Ken D.

AU - Pennucci, Timothy T.

AU - Perera, Benetge B.P.

AU - Petrov, Polina

AU - Pol, Nihan S.

AU - Radovan, Henri A.

AU - Ransom, Scott M.

AU - Ray, Paul S.

AU - Runnoe, Jessie C.

AU - Saffer, Alexander

AU - Sardesai, Shashwat C.

AU - Schmiedekamp, Ann

AU - Schmiedekamp, Carl

AU - Schmitz, Kai

AU - Shapiro-Albert, Brent J.

AU - Siemens, Xavier

AU - Simon, Joseph

AU - Siwek, Magdalena S.

AU - Fiscella, Sophia V.Sosa

AU - Stairs, Ingrid H.

AU - Stinebring, Daniel R.

AU - Stovall, Kevin

AU - Sun, Jerry P.

AU - Susobhanan, Abhimanyu

AU - Swiggum, Joseph K.

AU - Taylor, Jacob

AU - Taylor, Stephen R.

AU - Turner, Jacob E.

AU - Unal, Caner

AU - Vallisneri, Michele

AU - van Haasteren, Rutger

AU - Vigeland, Sarah J.

AU - Wahl, Haley M.

AU - Witt, Caitlin A.

AU - Wright, David

AU - Young, Olivia

PY - 2025/7/1

Y1 - 2025/7/1

N2 - We present the results of a search for nonlinear gravitational-wave (GW) memory in the NANOGrav 15 yr data set. We find no significant evidence for memory signals in the data set, with a maximum Bayes factor of 3.1 in favor of a model including memory. We therefore place upper limits on the strain of potential GW memory events as a function of sky location and observing epoch. We find upper limits that are not always more constraining than previous NANOGrav results. We show that it is likely due to the increase in common red noise between the 12.5 and 15 yr NANOGrav data sets.

AB - We present the results of a search for nonlinear gravitational-wave (GW) memory in the NANOGrav 15 yr data set. We find no significant evidence for memory signals in the data set, with a maximum Bayes factor of 3.1 in favor of a model including memory. We therefore place upper limits on the strain of potential GW memory events as a function of sky location and observing epoch. We find upper limits that are not always more constraining than previous NANOGrav results. We show that it is likely due to the increase in common red noise between the 12.5 and 15 yr NANOGrav data sets.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105008996227

U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/add874

DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/add874

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105008996227

SN - 0004-637X

VL - 987

JO - Astrophysical Journal

JF - Astrophysical Journal

IS - 1

M1 - 5

ER -

The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Search for Gravitational-wave Memory

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