Speaker
Dr
Satyen Baindur
(Affiliation after 1/1/2017 TBD)
Description
The detection of inspiral gravitational waves in the black hole binary merger reported by LIGO (2015) has kindled strong interest in the frequency of other possible detections, and their implications for stellar formation models and the black hole mass function, among other long-standing classical problems in astrophysics. However, LIGO is also sensitive to, and is looking for, continuous gravitational waves, which bear a signature distinct from that provided by inspiral gravitational waves. Neutron star crustal dynamics can create significant mass asymmetries (‘mountains’) and the perturbed rotation then can give rise to continuous gravitational waves. We discuss the mechanisms that generate such (density and) mass asymmetries in neutron star crusts, their size, frequency and duration statistics, and the possible detection of continuous gravitational waves that such neutron stars generate, via LIGO.
Primary author
Dr
Satyen Baindur
(Affiliation after 1/1/2017 TBD)