The detection of gravitational waves

Abstract

The detection of gravitational waves is challenging researchers since half a century. The relative precision required, 10-21, is difficult to imagine, this is 10-5 the diameter of a proton over several kilometres, using masses of tens of kilograms, or picometres over millions of kilometres. A theoretical description of gravitational radiation and its effects on matter, all consequence of the general theory of relativity, is given. Then the astrophysical phenomena that are candidates of gravitational wave emission are discussed, considering also amplitudes and rates. The binary neutron star system PSR1913+16, which provided the first evidence for energy loss by gravitational radiation in 1975, is briefly discussed. Then comes a description of the experimental developments, starting with ground-based interferometers, their working principles and their most important sources of noise. The earth-wide network that is being built describes how these instruments will be used in the observation era. Several other detection techniques, such as space interferometry, pulsar timing arrays and resonant detectors, covering different bands of the gravitational wave frequency spectrum complete these lectures.