NANOGrav and the Quest to Detect Gravitational Waves with Radio Pulsars
Froney Crawford
Franklin & Marshall College

Imagine using the Milky Way itself as a giant detector for ripples inspacetime. That?s the goal of the North American Nanohertz Observatoryfor Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav), a consortium of over a hundredresearchers searching for low-frequency gravitational waves (GWs), such asthose produced by supermassive black holes in distant galaxies. NANOGravregularly observes an array of ultra-precise, clock-like radio pulsarswith some of the largest radio telescopes on Earth. Over years of carefultiming, tiny variations in the arrival times of their pulses can revealthe faint signatures of passing gravitational waves. In this talk, I?llintroduce the NANOGrav project and GWs, explain how pulsars can act asGalactic-scale detectors, and share NANOGrav?s latest progress towarddetecting these elusive waves. I will also highlight the NANOGrav STARS(Student Teams of Astrophysics ResearcherS) research and education program,where undergraduates from across NANOGrav institutions work together insmall teams with real data, gaining practical hands-on research experiencewhile building teamwork, leadership, and communication skills.

Date:	Mardi, 16 septembre 2025
Time:	15:30
Where:	McGill University
	Ernest Rutherford Physics, R.E. Bell Conference Room (room 103)