Can the gravitational waves emitted by Eta Carinae be detected?

Abstract

In this article, we propose a search for gravitational waves emitted by Eta Carinae using the PTA technique, not to detect a background, but rather a strong, isolated source (a task not yet accomplished). We suggest including pulsars PSR J0952-0607, PSR J1719-1438, PSR J2322-2650, and PSR J1909-3744 in the search network, as they exhibit relatively high residual-to-pulse-width ratios and spatial positions that favor the detection of tensor polarizations. The high eccentricity (0.9) of the Eta Carinae binary orbit may facilitate signal identification within the data due to the presence of harmonics in the emitted gravitational waves. It is possible that some of the raw data have already been recorded and are available; the remaining step is to analyze them against a model of the gravitational wave signal arriving at Earth from Eta Carinae.