Yuri Levin (Monash University)

On Gravitational-wave detection by Pulsar Timing Arrays - Yuri Levin Colloquium

ATNF Marsfield Lecture Theatre

Abstract

21-st Century astrophysics will almost certainly be enriched by a new window on
the Universe, to be opened through the detection of gravitational waves from galactic and extragalactic
sources. Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs) are programs developed in order to measure
extra-galactic gravitational waves by the super-precise timing of millisecond pulsars in our galaxy.
In this talk, I will discuss the astrophysics of the PTAs
and propose a strategy for the PTA data analysis. I will show how this strategy has been applied to
the European PTA data, to yield the most stringent bound to date, on the strength of gravitational waves
emitted by binaries of supermassive black holes in galactic centers.