Speaker
Description
The stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB) is formed from the incoherent superposition of many GW sources throughout cosmic history. I will briefly summarise the astrophysical and cosmological sources that contribute to the SGWB and the ongoing searches by cross-correlating data between multiple GW detectors. I will review the current limits on the SGWB and the consequences for theoretical models. I will then discuss the anisotropies in the astrophysical GW background, and their relevance in providing new information about galaxy clustering and large-scale structure. Finally, I will emphasise that this information is obscured by shot noise, caused by the finite number of GW sources that contribute to the background at any given time and then present a new method for estimating the angular spectrum of anisotropies, based on the principle of combining statistically-independent data segments.
