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Erratum: “The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Constraints on Supermassive Black Hole Binaries from the Gravitational-wave Background” (2023, ApJL, 952, L37)

  • The NANOGrav Collaboration
  • University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
  • Newcastle University
  • Widener University
  • Oregon State University
  • University of Florida
  • Observatório Nacional
  • Universidad El Bosque
  • Cornell University
  • University of Birmingham
  • West Virginia University
  • University of Connecticut
  • Vanderbilt University
  • California Institute of Technology
  • Peking University
  • New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
  • Montana State University
  • Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster
  • University of British Columbia
  • University of Copenhagen
  • George Mason University
  • National Science Foundation
  • Hillsdale College
  • Eureka Scientific, Inc.
  • Rochester Institute of Technology
  • University of Maryland, College Park
  • NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
  • University of California at Berkeley
  • Simons Foundation
  • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Research output: Contribution to journalComment/debate

Abstract

In the published article, we presented inferences about the population of supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries emitting at nanohertz gravitational-wave (GW) frequencies based on the 15 yr dataset from the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav). Here, we report two bugs in the astrophysical analysis software used for the published article. While parameter posteriors of our inference can be seen to have slight differences on close inspection, none of the conclusions from the original publication have changed, including the finding that the measured GW background is dominated by the most massive, high-mass-ratio SMBH binaries. Our corrected results show slightly less evidence for environmental interactions with SMBH binaries and indicate that the population of SMBH binaries contributing to the GW background occurs at slightly higher mass ratios and redshifts than indicated in the published article. Correcting these errors does not change the central conclusion that astrophysically motivated models of SMBH binary populations are able to reproduce both the amplitude and shape of the observed low-frequency GW spectrum. These errors did not affect any other analyses of the NANOGrav 15 yr dataset, including the evidence for a GW background presented in another of our published articles.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberL67
JournalAstrophysical Journal Letters
Volume1006
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2026

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