Sub-Nanohertz Gravitational Wave Detection

Speaker: Jeff Dror

Date: May 1, 2023

Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm

Location: IFS Seminar Room, 472 Willamette Hall

Abstract: Gravitational waves with frequencies below 1 nHz are notoriously challenging to detect. With periods exceeding current experimental lifetimes, they induce slow drifts in observables rather than periodic correlations. In this talk, I will demonstrate that pulsar timing parameters can discover such ”ultralow” frequency gravitational waves. I will present two complementary observables for which the systematic shift induced by gravitational waves can be extracted. Using existing data for these parameters, I will present the results of searches for ultralow frequency continuous-wave and stochastic gravitational wave signals, finding sensitivities near the expected prediction from supermassive black hole mergers. The search method opens a new frequency range for gravitational wave detection and has profound implications for astrophysics, cosmology, and particle physics.

Host: Pouya Asadi