• What are gravitational waves (GWs)?

• Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity
• Einstein's General Theory of Relativity
• Weak field solution: Gravitational waves
• Properties of gravitational waves

• Where might GWs come from?

• the big bang
• pulsars
• supernovae
• compact binaries

• How can we detect GWs?

• interferometer schematic
• LIGO observatories
• LIGO noise sources
• LIGO noise levels
• LIGO noise

• Looking for black hole coalescence I: the state of the art

• the brightest things in the sky?
• step 1: construct a time-frequency map
• step 2: look for rectangles with too much power

• Looking for black hole coalescence II: the next big thing?

• two new classes of waveforms
• basics of finding curves in the time-frequency map
• example of found curve