Seeing the gravitational wave universe

Pulsar timing arrays will be a window into the gravitational wave background Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime that are caused by events such as the merging of black holes. In principle, many types of events occur that could create gravitational waves with frequencies rangin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2022-11, Vol.378 (6620), p.592-593
Main Authors: Mingarelli, Chiara M. F., Casey-Clyde, J. Andrew
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cosmology
Frequency ranges
Gravitational waves
Gravity
Pulsars
Supermassive black holes
Universe
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Summary:Pulsar timing arrays will be a window into the gravitational wave background Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime that are caused by events such as the merging of black holes. In principle, many types of events occur that could create gravitational waves with frequencies ranging from as high as a few kilohertz to as low as a few nanohertz. Sources of gravitational waves in the nanohertz frequency range include cosmic strings, quantum fluctuations from the early Universe, and, notably, supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs). Some gravitational wave sources are so numerous that they are all expected to contribute to a gravitational wave background (GWB). This GWB has been the target of pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) for decades.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.abq1187