Observing Binary Inspiral with LIGO

Abstract

Gravitational radiation from a binary neutron star or black hole system leads to orbital decay and the eventual coalescence of the binary's components. During the last several minutes before the binary components coalesce, the radiation will enter the bandwidth of the United States Laser Inteferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) and the French/Italian VIRGO gravitational radiation detector. The combination of detector sensitivity, signal strength, and source density and distribution all point to binary inspiral as the most likely candidate for observation among all the anticipated sources of gravitational radiation for LIGO/VIRGO. Here I review briefly some of the questions that are posed to theorists by the impending observation of binary inspiral.