An analysis of pulsar timing irregularities: is it induced by a source of gravitational waves in the galaxy?

Summary A statistical analysis of the irregularities in the pulse arrival times for the some 30 pulsars, for which the timing noise measurements are available, indicates that, at a confidence level of 96%, the timing noise is induced by a hypothetical source within our Galaxy. The source would be located at 08 h 38 min right ascension, −3° declination and 0.9 kpc distance from the solar system. We suggest and discuss the possibility that the interaction between the ?source? and the pulsars is due to gravitational waves, emitted in bursts by the hypothetical source with yearly rate over the past 10⁵ years. Paper presented at the Congress ?Galactic and Extragalactic Dark Matter?, Roma, 28 to 30 June 1983.