Detecting stochastic gravitational waves with binary resonance

Abstract

LIGO and Virgo have initiated the era of gravitational-wave (GW) astronomy;
\nbut in order to fully explore GW frequency spectrum, we must turn our attention
\nto innovative techniques for GW detection. One such approach is to use binary
\nsystems as dynamical GW detectors by studying the subtle perturbations to their
\norbits caused by impinging GWs. We present a powerful new formalism for
\ncalculating the orbital evolution of a generic binary coupled to a stochastic
\nbackground of GWs, deriving from first principles a secularly-averaged
\nFokker-Planck equation which fully characterises the statistical evolution of
\nall six of the binary's orbital elements. We also develop practical tools for
\nnumerically integrating this equation, and derive the necessary statistical
\nformalism to search for GWs in observational data from binary pulsars and
\nlaser-ranging experiments.

Topics & Concepts