LIGO Seminar

https://caltech.zoom.us/j/82072539167

Title: "Gravitational wave backgrounds: detection methods and implications" with Kevin Turbang, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Abstract: The detection of a gravitational-wave background would allow us to extract information about the astrophysical and/or cosmological sources that generated it. After briefly reviewing the current detection method for an isotropic gravitational-wave background using the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA detectors, I will discuss an alternative, more sensitive, method targeting the intermittent nature of the astrophysical background. The remainder of the talk will be devoted to implications from a gravitational-wave background, both astrophysical and cosmological. In particular, I will illustrate how the gravitational-wave background, on top of compact binary coalescences, can provide additional information for population analyses. To conclude, I will discuss how the constraints on a gravitational-wave background can be used to probe the very early stages of the Universe, mostly focusing on first order phase transitions.