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Authors: D. R. B. Yardley, G. B. Hobbs, F. A. Jenet, J. P. W. Verbiest, Z. L. Wen, R. N. Manchester, W. A. Coles, W. van Straten, M. Bailes, N. D. R. Bhat, S. Burke-Spolaor, D. J. Champion, A. W. Hotan, J. M. Sarkissian

Date: 10 May 2010

Abstract: We present the sensitivity of the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array to gravitational waves emitted by individual super-massive black-hole binary systems in the early phases of coalescing at the cores of merged galaxies. Our analysis includes a detailed study of the effects of fitting a pulsar timing model to non-white timing residuals. Pulsar timing is sensitive at nanoHertz frequencies and hence complementary to LIGO and LISA. We place a sky-averaged constraint on the merger rate of nearby ($z < 0.6$) black-hole binaries in the early phases of coalescence with a chirp mass of $10ˆ{10}\,\rmn{M}_\odot$ of less than one merger every seven years. The prospects for future gravitational-wave astronomy of this type with the proposed Square Kilometre Array telescope are discussed.

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