DR. ANDREW MATAS

The stochastic gravitational wave background is a superposition of many gravitational wave sources, each of which is too faint to detect individually, but which collectively create a correlated signal between gravitational wave detectors. The background due to compact binaries is a major target for future observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Virgo. In this talk, the speaker will present the results from a search for the stochastic background done on Advanced LIGOs first observing run. While the background was not detected, the upper limit on a flat background improved by a factor of 33 over Initial LIGO. The speaker will also present recent estimates of the binary background, including contributions from the binary neutron star and binary black hole backgrounds, which indicate that the background may be detectable with the advanced detector network. Finally, he will discuss new method to look for the popcorn-like nature of the binary black hole background.