An MeV Lookout for Gravitational Wave Sources

Prof. Peter Shawhan

University of Maryland

The global gravitational wave detector network will be gaining sensitivity and adding observatories during this decade and beyond. Its expanded range and localization capabilities will allow us to detect more binary mergers and improve prospects for discovering other, so far unseen, gravitational wave sources. GW170817 was a magnificent kick-off for multi-messenger astronomy with gravitational waves, but we still have much to learn about the population of neutron star binary progenitors and the astrophysics at work in mergers and their remnants. I will outline how a highly capable MeV gamma-ray observatory can sharpen the interpretation of individual merger events and the wider context of the merging binary population, as well as identify other targets for gravitational wave searches.