Pulsar clocks open new window on gravitational waves

A team of European astronomers, together with Indian and Japanese colleagues, has for the first time found strong evidence of ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves, which probably come from pairs of supermassive black holes at the centre of merging galaxies. It is the result of more than 25 years of observations with the most sensitive radio telescopes in Europe and India, including the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT). In doing so, they have opened a new window on gravitational wave research. These gravitational waves contain information about the universe's best-kept secrets. The research has been published in a series of articles in the professional journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Researcher Anuradha Samajdar was involved in the project from her previous position as a Humboldt Fellow at the University of Potsdam, Germany. Since May 2023, Samajdar is associate professor at the Utrecht University's Institute for Gravitational and Subatomic Physics (GRASP).