Finite populations and finite time: The non-Gaussianity of a gravitational wave background
Phys. Rev. D 113, 123065 – Published 26 June, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/96zk-qtck
Abstract
Strong evidence for an isotropic, Gaussian gravitational wave background (GWB) has been found by multiple pulsar timing arrays (PTAs). The GWB is expected to be sourced by a finite population of supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) emitting in the PTA sensitivity band, and astrophysical inference of PTA data sets suggests a GWB signal that is at the higher end of GWB spectral amplitude estimates. However, current inference analyses make simplifying assumptions, such as modeling the GWB as Gaussian, assuming that all SMBHBs only emit at frequencies that are integer multiples of the total observing time, and ignoring the interference between the signals of different SMBHBs. In this paper, we build analytical and numerical models of an astrophysical GWB from circular, inspiralling binaries inclined relative to the line-of-sight of the observer, without the above approximations, and compare the statistical properties of its induced PTA signal to those of a signal produced by a Gaussian GWB. We show that finite population and windowing effects introduce non-Gaussianities in the PTA signal, which are currently unmodeled in PTA analyses.
