Speaker
Description
Since the first detection of a black-hole merger in 2015, we have found nearly 100 merger signals from compact objects (mostly black holes but also four involving neutron stars). However, continuous gravitational waves (CWs) emitted directly from deformed spinning neutron stars have still not been detected and could be the next big breakthrough in gravitational-wave astronomy.
In this talk, I will give an overview of the challenges and opportunities of searching for continuous waves and the current status and outlook of the global search effort. Two relevant questions to consider are: Can we reasonably expect a CW detection in the near future, and what (astro-)physical insights can we potentially gain from such a detection (or from its absence)?
