Description:

Abstract: In this colloquium I first review sources of high frequency gravitational waves (HFGWs). I will point out what can be learned about high energy particle physics and cosmology from HFGWs. In particular I focus on the cosmic gravitational microwave background (CGMB) and GWs from primordial black holes. In the second part of the colloquium I discuss the prospects of microwave cavities to detect high frequency GWs. I show that it is crucial to carry out the signal calculation in a preferred frame for the laboratory, the proper detector frame. This formalism allows us to firmly establish that, contrary to previous claims, cavity experiments designed for the detection of axion dark matter need only reanalyze existing data to search for high-frequency GWs.

Jan Schütte-Engel, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Host: Gerald Gabrielse

Keywords: CFP, Physics