The MeerKAT Pulsar Timing Array: first data release

Abstract

We present the first 2.5 years of data from the MeerKAT Pulsar Timing Array (MPTA), part of MeerTime, a MeerKAT Large Survey Project. The MPTA aims to precisely measure pulse arrival times from an ensemble of 88 pulsars visible from the Southern Hemisphere, with the goal of contributing to the search, detection and study of nanohertz-frequency gravitational waves as part of the International Pulsar Timing Array. This project makes use of the MeerKAT telescope, and operates with a typical observing cadence of two weeks using the L-band receiver that records data from 856-1712 MHz. We provide a comprehensive description of the observing system, software, and pipelines used and developed for the MeerTime project. The data products made available as part of this data release are from the 78 pulsars that had at least 30 observations between the start of the MeerTime programme in February 2019 and October 2021. These include both sub-banded and band-averaged arrival times, as well as the initial timing ephemerides, noise models, and the frequency-dependent standard templates (portraits) used to derive pulse arrival times. After accounting for detected noise processes in the data, the frequency-averaged residuals of 67 of the pulsars achieved a root-mean-square residual precision of $< 1 \mu \rm {s}$. We also present a novel recovery of the clock correction waveform solely from pulsar timing residuals, and an exploration into preliminary findings of interest to the international pulsar timing community. The arrival times, standards and full Stokes parameter calibrated pulsar timing archives are publicly available.

Search for an Isotropic Gravitational-wave Background with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array

“…This may be attributed in part to imperfect modeling of the known timing events observed in this pulsar (Lam et al 2018). PSR J1603 −7202 is observed as part of the MeerKAT PTA (Miles et al 2023), which has shorter, but significantly more sensitive measurements of this pulsar at greater cadence. The MeerKAT PTA has fortnightly observations and should be sensitive to the noise processes at higher fluctuation frequencies.…”

Wide-band Timing of the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array UWL Data

“…We note, however, that a similar trend has recently been detected also in other data sets including wide-band analysis from NANOGrav (via private communication). Additionally, timing models from the latest MPTA release included FD parameters despite using frequency-evolving templates (Miles et al 2023).…”

“…The three major pillars of PTA, working under a joint venture as the International Pulsar Timing Array (IPTA; Manchester & IPTA 2013), are the European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA; Desvignes et al 2016), the North American Nanoherthz Observatory for Gravitational waves (NANOGrav; McLaughlin 2013), and the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA; Hobbs 2013). They have also been recently joined by the Indian Pulsar Timing Array (InPTA; Paul et al 2019;Tarafdar et al 2022) and are supported by the Chinese Pulsar Timing Array (CPTA; Lee 2016) and the MeerKAT Pulsar Timing Array (MPTA; Miles et al 2023).…”

The Green Bank North Celestial Cap Survey. VII. 12 New Pulsar Timing Solutions

“…PSR J2039−3616 is near Green Bank Observatory's low declination limit (GBO can observe sources with decl.  −45°), so this pulsar may also prove useful for PTA experiments with better access to Southern Hemisphere sources, like the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (Reardon et al 2021), the Indian Pulsar Timing Array (Joshi et al 2018), and MeerTime (Miles et al 2022).…”