This handbook provides an updated comprehensive description of gravitational wave astronomy. In the first part, it reviews gravitational wave experiments, from ground and space based laser interferometers to pulsar timing arrays and indirect detection from the cosmic microwave background. In the second part, it discusses a number of astrophysical and cosmological gravitational wave sources, including black holes, neutron stars, possible more exotic objects, and sources in the early Universe. The third part of the book reviews the methods to calculate gravitational waveforms. The fourth and last part of the book covers techniques employed in gravitational wave astronomy data analysis. This book represents both a valuable resource for graduate students and an important reference for researchers in gravitational wave astronomy.

This work investigates gravitational wave production in the early universe and identifies potentially observable features, thereby paving the way for future gravitational wave experiments. It focuses on gravitational wave production in two scenarios: inflation in a model inspired by loop quantum gravity, and preheating at the end of inflation. In the first part, it is demonstrated that gravitational waves’ spectrum differs from the result obtained using ordinary general relativity, with potentially observable consequences that could yield insights into quantum gravity. In the second part, it is shown that the cosmic gravitational wave background is anisotropic at a level that could be detected by future experiments. Gravitational waves promise to be an rich source of information on the early universe. To them, the universe has been transparent from its earliest moments, so they can give us an unobstructed view of the Big Bang and a means to probe the fundamental laws of nature at very high energies.

The direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015 has initiated a new era of gravitational wave astronomy, which has already paid remarkable dividends in our understanding of astrophysics and gravitational physics. Aimed at advanced undergraduates and graduate students, this book introduces gravitational waves and its many applications to cosmology, nuclear physics, astrophysics and theoretical physics.

The two-volume book Gravitational Waves provides a comprehensive and detailed account of the physics of gravitational waves. While Volume 1 is devoted to the theory and experiments, Volume 2 discusses what can be learned from gravitational waves in astrophysics and in cosmology, by systematizing a large body of theoretical developments that have taken place over the last decades. The second volume also includes a detailed discussion of the first direct detections of gravitational waves. In the author's typical style, the theoretical results are generally derived afresh, clarifying or streamlining the existing derivations whenever possible, and providing a coherent and consistent picture of the field. The first volume of Gravitational Waves , which appeared in 2007, has established itself as the standard reference in the field. The scientific community has eagerly awaited this second volume. The recent direct detection of gravitational waves makes the topics in this book particularly timely.

This book is based on a set of 18 class-tested lectures delivered to fourth-year physics undergraduates at Griffith University in Brisbane, and the book presents new discoveries by the Nobel-prize winning LIGO collaboration. The author begins with a review of special relativity and tensors and then develops the basic elements of general relativity (a beautiful theory that unifies special relativity and gravitation via geometry) with applications to the gravitational deflection of light, global positioning systems, black holes, gravitational waves, and cosmology. The book provides readers with a solid understanding of the underlying physical concepts; an ability to appreciate and in many cases derive important applications of the theory; and a solid grounding for those wishing to pursue their studies further. General Relativity: An Introduction to Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Cosmology also connects general relativity with broader topics. There is no doubt that general relativity is an active and exciting field of physics, and this book successfully transmits that excitement to readers.

This most up-to-date, one-stop reference combines coverage of both theory and observational techniques, with introductory sections to bring all readers up to the same level. Written by outstanding researchers directly involved with the scientific program of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), the book begins with a brief review of general relativity before going on to describe the physics of gravitational waves and the astrophysical sources of gravitational radiation. Further sections cover gravitational wave detectors, data analysis, and the outlook of gravitational wave astronomy and astrophysics.

This introduction to gravitational waves and related astrophysics provides a bridge across the range of astronomy, physics and cosmology that comes into play when trying to understand the gravitational-wave sky. Key ideas are developed step by step, leading up to the technology that caught these faint whispers from the distant universe.