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May 21 at 4PM in the 2nd Floor Conference Room in Dearborn Speaker: Alberto Sesana (Penn State) “Prospects for Gravitational Wave Detection with Forthcoming Pulsar Timing Arrays” In the next decade the detection of gravitational waves (GW) will (hopefully) be a reality, opening a completely new window on the Universe. Massive black-hole (MBH) binaries (MBHBs) are expected to be among the primary actors on this upcoming stage. Utilizing detailed MBHB population models (based on our current best understanding of galaxy formation and evolution trough mergers, and on our knowledge of the relations between MBHs and their hosts), I describe prospects of detecting GWs with forthcoming pulsar timing arrays (PTAs). A strong GW background, detectable at a level of 10-100ns timing precision, is a robust predictions of all the models. Single bright sources may also be resolvable, providing unique information about MBHB dynamics, and the physics of the processes driving their final coalescence. |