Joint cosmology seminar at MIT:

Tuesday, April 23, 2024, 2:30 pm
Cosman Seminar Room\\
Center for Theoretical Physics\\
Building 6C, Room 6C-442\\
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Gravitational wave results from NANOGrav

Ken Olum
Tufts

Abstract:

Last year, the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational waves (NANOGrav) announced strong evidence for a gravitational wave background at very low frequencies. This background may come from supermassive black holes orbiting each other at the centers of galaxies, or from a more exotic source such as cosmic strings, early universe phase transitions, or inflation. I will present our results, how we achieved them, what we can learn from them, and what to expect from pulsar timing arrays in the future.