1–5 Jun 2026
Paraninfo, University of Zaragoza
Europe/Madrid timezone

The hunt for high frequency gravitational waves — GravNet: a global network of HFGW detectors

2 Jun 2026, 16:30
15m
Pedro Cerbuna

Pedro Cerbuna

Oral presentation Axion/Sterile Parallel Session - Instrumentation for DM searches

Speaker

Kristof Schmieden (University of Bonn)

Description

A new window to the universe was opened up with the detection of
gravitational waves. While observations have been made at frequencies
around hundreds of Herz, and evidence was found at nHz frequencies, the
high frequency region is still unexplored experimentally. To change this
the GravNet initiative was founded with the aim to setup a global
network of high frequency gravitational wave detectors.
The idea of searching for gravitational waves using radio frequency
cavities immersed in strong magnetic fields has recently received
significant attention. In particular, cavities with rather small volumes
that are currently used to search for axion-like particles are
discussed in this context. The first three detector of the GravNet
network are under construction employing RF-cavities. Several sources of high-frequency gravitational waves are discussed in new physics models, most prominently primordial black hole mergers and axion superradiance, each of which involves dark matter candidates. These production mechanisms produce signals with distinct features. Challenges of detecting gravitational waves from both exemplary sources are discussed as well as prospects for the detection of GW using the network of RF cavity based detectors.

Main Contribution topic Instrumentation for Dark Matter searches
Secondary contribution topic Astrophysical observations

Author

Kristof Schmieden (University of Bonn)

Co-author

Presentation materials