B.S. Sathyaprakash (University of Cardiff, UK), Michael Kraemer (Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Germany / Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, University of Manchester, UK

Advanced gravitational wave detectors are currently under construction in the US, Europe and Japan and the first ones are expected to be operational by 2015. LISA, a mission to detect gravitational waves in space is currently undergoing changes in the planning. German and British radio astronomers also collaborate on searches for gravitational waves of ultra-low frequencies using pulsar timing. With continued regular monitoring, the first detection of a background could come between 2015 and 2020. Observation of gravitational waves from astronomical systems will provide unique kinds of information and will have great synergy with other ways of observing these sources in optical, radio, x-ray, gamma-ray and other windows. This synergy can provide invaluable insight into the nature of these sources and will impact cosmology and astrophysics. Topics in this session will include:

1. GW detection across frequencies (ground- and space-based interferometers, pulsars, etc.) Current status and challenges and future opportunities (ET, SKA, NGO, etc.)
2. Sources of gravitational waves, synergies with astronomy (multi-messenger sources and their observation)
3. What can we learn about fundamental physics, astrophysics and cosmology with GW observations and what are the data analysis challenges?