The 2009 Fermi Symposium

Gravitational Waves and Gamma-ray Bursts in Multi-messenger Astrophysics

Szabolcs Marka

Abstract:

The ultimate promise of gravitational wave astrophysics is to enable the extraction of scientific insight that was hidden from us before. Multi-messenger astronomy including gravitational waves shall be a fruitful path towards this goal. Gamma-ray, X-ray, optical, radio and neutrino observations of cataclysmic cosmic events with plausible gravitational wave emission can be used in combination with searches for gravitational waves. Beyond enhancing our ability to identify weaker gravitational wave signatures closer to the noise floor of the detector, multi-messenger observations will enhance the quality of the results and enable us to draw conclusions we would not be able to with gravitational waves alone. After an overview of past results I will present an outlook on future multi-messenger astrophysics enabled through gravitational wave observations.