Tasting the Gravitational Rainbow: the Future of Gravitational Waves
Andrew Laeuger, TAPIR / Caltech
From the Green Bank Observatory in the radio band to the Fermi Space Telescope in the gamma-ray band, modern astronomers have thrived on our ability to observe electromagnetic waves with frequencies spanning a staggering 16 orders of magnitude. It’s easy to take for granted the centuries of work between the first optical telescope and today’s extraordinary breadth of observational capabilities, but in the field of gravitational wave (GW) astronomy, the expansion of the frequency range we can access with our detectors is happening in real time. So far, GWs have only been convincingly detected in the 10 Hz - 1 kHz band (by the LIGO/Virgo interferometers) and in the nHz band (by the NANOGrav pulsar timing array), but there are many planned future experiments which will target different frequency bands, allowing us to uncover and test new physical phenomena. Over the past few years, my research has considered both pathways for detecting GWs outside of the LIGO and pulsar timing bands and possibilities for studying astrophysical environments and the fundamental nature of gravity itself using such waves. In this talk, I aim to provide a unique mixture of theoretical and experimental perspectives on the future of gravitational wave astronomy by highlighting upcoming detector developments along with some of my personal contributions to this rapidly expanding field.
Host: Rui