Events

Where do we go now? Thoughts on the road ahead for gravitational wave science

Abstract: The first directly measured gravitational-wave event was announced just a little over nine years ago, following five months of checking and analysis after its discovery in the morning of 14 September 2015.  The many events found since then, augmented by very strong evidence for very-low-frequency waves measured using precision pulsar timing, have rapidly made the long promised field of gravitational-wave astronomy a reality.  Where does the field go from here?  The road ahead will be driven on the facility side by improved instrumentation: greater sensitivity, wider bandwidth, and expansion into other frequency bands.  On the theory side, taking advantage of instrumental improvements will require a focus on precision modeling.  We expect the complexity of the measured signals as detectors probe more deeply, and capture more wave cycles in their sensitive bands.  Precision modeling will be particularly important to ensure we are not confused by systematic errors, particularly as various effects we hope to measure have the potential to “mock up” effects similar to what we might see in non-GR-based gravity analyses.

Monday, March 3, 2025 9:30 AM