27 research outputs found
The NANOGrav 12.5 yr Data Set: Search for Gravitational Wave Memory
We present the results of a Bayesian search for gravitational wave (GW) memory in the NANOGrav 12.5 yr data set. We find no convincing evidence for any gravitational wave memory signals in this data set. We find a Bayes factor of 2.8 in favor of a model that includes a memory signal and common spatially uncorrelated red noise (CURN) compared to a model including only a CURN. However, further investigation shows that a disproportionate amount of support for the memory signal comes from three dubious pulsars. Using a more flexible red-noise model in these pulsars reduces the Bayes factor to 1.3. Having found no compelling evidence, we go on to place upper limits on the strain amplitude of GW memory events as a function of sky location and event epoch. These upper limits are computed using a signal model that assumes the existence of a common, spatially uncorrelated red noise in addition to a GW memory signal. The median strain upper limit as a function of sky position is approximately 3.3 × 10−14. We also find that there are some differences in the upper limits as a function of sky position centered around PSR J0613−0200. This suggests that this pulsar has some excess noise that can be confounded with GW memory. Finally, the upper limits as a function of burst epoch continue to improve at later epochs. This improvement is attributable to the continued growth of the pulsar timing array
The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Search for Transverse Polarization Modes in the Gravitational-wave Background
Recently we found compelling evidence for a gravitational-wave background with Hellings and Downs (HD) correlations in our 15 yr data set. These correlations describe gravitational waves as predicted by general relativity, which has two transverse polarization modes. However, more general metric theories of gravity can have additional polarization modes, which produce different interpulsar correlations. In this work, we search the NANOGrav 15 yr data set for evidence of a gravitational-wave background with quadrupolar HD and scalar-transverse (ST) correlations. We find that HD correlations are the best fit to the data and no significant evidence in favor of ST correlations. While Bayes factors show strong evidence for a correlated signal, the data does not strongly prefer either correlation signature, with Bayes factors ∼2 when comparing HD to ST correlations, and ∼1 for HD plus ST correlations to HD correlations alone. However, when modeled alongside HD correlations, the amplitude and spectral index posteriors for ST correlations are uninformative, with the HD process accounting for the vast majority of the total signal. Using the optimal statistic, a frequentist technique that focuses on the pulsar-pair cross-correlations, we find median signal-to-noise ratios of 5.0 for HD and 4.6 for ST correlations when fit for separately, and median signal-to-noise ratios of 3.5 for HD and 3.0 for ST correlations when fit for simultaneously. While the signal-to-noise ratios for each of the correlations are comparable, the estimated amplitude and spectral index for HD are a significantly better fit to the total signal, in agreement with our Bayesian analysis
The NANOGrav 15-year data set: Search for Transverse Polarization Modes in the Gravitational-Wave Background
Recently we found compelling evidence for a gravitational wave background
with Hellings and Downs (HD) correlations in our 15-year data set. These
correlations describe gravitational waves as predicted by general relativity,
which has two transverse polarization modes. However, more general metric
theories of gravity can have additional polarization modes which produce
different interpulsar correlations. In this work we search the NANOGrav 15-year
data set for evidence of a gravitational wave background with quadrupolar
Hellings and Downs (HD) and Scalar Transverse (ST) correlations. We find that
HD correlations are the best fit to the data, and no significant evidence in
favor of ST correlations. While Bayes factors show strong evidence for a
correlated signal, the data does not strongly prefer either correlation
signature, with Bayes factors when comparing HD to ST correlations,
and for HD plus ST correlations to HD correlations alone. However,
when modeled alongside HD correlations, the amplitude and spectral index
posteriors for ST correlations are uninformative, with the HD process
accounting for the vast majority of the total signal. Using the optimal
statistic, a frequentist technique that focuses on the pulsar-pair
cross-correlations, we find median signal-to-noise-ratios of 5.0 for HD and 4.6
for ST correlations when fit for separately, and median signal-to-noise-ratios
of 3.5 for HD and 3.0 for ST correlations when fit for simultaneously. While
the signal-to-noise-ratios for each of the correlations are comparable, the
estimated amplitude and spectral index for HD are a significantly better fit to
the total signal, in agreement with our Bayesian analysis.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
The NANOGrav 15-year Data Set: Evidence for a Gravitational-Wave Background
We report multiple lines of evidence for a stochastic signal that is
correlated among 67 pulsars from the 15-year pulsar-timing data set collected
by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves. The
correlations follow the Hellings-Downs pattern expected for a stochastic
gravitational-wave background. The presence of such a gravitational-wave
background with a power-law-spectrum is favored over a model with only
independent pulsar noises with a Bayes factor in excess of , and this
same model is favored over an uncorrelated common power-law-spectrum model with
Bayes factors of 200-1000, depending on spectral modeling choices. We have
built a statistical background distribution for these latter Bayes factors
using a method that removes inter-pulsar correlations from our data set,
finding (approx. ) for the observed Bayes factors in the
null no-correlation scenario. A frequentist test statistic built directly as a
weighted sum of inter-pulsar correlations yields (approx. ). Assuming a fiducial
characteristic-strain spectrum, as appropriate for an ensemble of binary
supermassive black-hole inspirals, the strain amplitude is (median + 90% credible interval) at a reference frequency of
1/(1 yr). The inferred gravitational-wave background amplitude and spectrum are
consistent with astrophysical expectations for a signal from a population of
supermassive black-hole binaries, although more exotic cosmological and
astrophysical sources cannot be excluded. The observation of Hellings-Downs
correlations points to the gravitational-wave origin of this signal.Comment: 30 pages, 18 figures. Published in Astrophysical Journal Letters as
part of Focus on NANOGrav's 15-year Data Set and the Gravitational Wave
Background. For questions or comments, please email [email protected]
Additional file 1: of Womenâs experience with home-based self-sampling for human papillomavirus testing
HPV Self-Sampling Survey. (ZIP 115 kb
Defined Contribution Plan Dominance Grows Across Sectors and Employer Sizes, While Mega Defined Benefit Plans Remain Strong: Where We are and Where We are Going
Discovery of a Novel Glucagon Receptor Antagonist <i>N</i>-[(4-{(1<i>S</i>)-1-[3-(3, 5-Dichlorophenyl)-5-(6-methoxynaphthalen-2-yl)-1<i>H</i>-pyrazol-1-yl]ethyl}phenyl)carbonyl]-β-alanine (MK-0893) for the Treatment of Type II Diabetes
A potent, selective glucagon receptor antagonist <b>9m</b>, <i>N</i>-[(4-{(1<i>S</i>)-1-[3-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(6-methoxynaphthalen-2-yl)-1<i>H</i>-pyrazol-1-yl]ethyl}phenyl)carbonyl]-β-alanine, was
discovered by optimization of a previously identified lead. Compound <b>9m</b> is a reversible and competitive antagonist with high binding
affinity (IC<sub>50</sub> of 6.6 nM) and functional cAMP activity
(IC<sub>50</sub> of 15.7 nM). It is selective for glucagon receptor
relative to other family B GPCRs, showing IC<sub>50</sub> values of
1020 nM for GIPR, 9200 nM for PAC1, and >10000 nM for GLP-1R, VPAC1,
and VPAC2. Compound <b>9m</b> blunted glucagon-induced glucose
elevation in hGCGR mice and rhesus monkeys. It also lowered ambient
glucose levels in both acute and chronic mouse models: in hGCGR ob/ob
mice it reduced glucose (AUC 0–6 h) by 32% and 39% at 3 and
10 mpk single doses, respectively. In hGCGR mice on a high fat diet,
compound <b>9m</b> at 3, and 10 mpk po in feed lowered blood
glucose levels by 89% and 94% at day 10, respectively, relative to
the difference between the vehicle control and lean hGCGR mice. On
the basis of its favorable biological and DMPK properties, compound <b>9m</b> (MK-0893) was selected for further preclinical and clinical
evaluations