Abstract

Following on from an era of first searches with long-baseline instruments for gravitational-wave signals from astrophysical sources, a new generation of “advanced” gravitational-wave detectors is under construction and expected to begin scientific operations around 2015. These instruments will be sensitive to the inspiral and merger of neutron-star and black-hole binaries with expected detection rates of at least several per year. They will also search for gravitational wave signals from events such as gamma-ray bursts, core-collapse supernovae, and soft-gamma repeater giant flares.

This talk will include a brief overview of the status of the field and a summary of how the gravitational wave field is currently linking to other fields in astronomy, particularly transient studies. A review of the status of joint science studies in these areas will be presented along with an outline of the challenges and opportunities presented by the onset of the advanced interferometric detector era.