Pulsar discoveries by volunteer distributed computing and the strongest continuous gravitational wave signal [Elektronische Ressource] / Benjamin Knispel

Pulsar Discoveries by Volunteer Distributed Computingand the Strongest Continuous Gravitational Wave SignalVon der Fakultät für Mathematik und Physikder Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannoverzur Erlangung des GradesDoktor der NaturwissenschaftenDr. rer. nat.genehmigte DissertationvonDipl.-Phys. Benjamin Knispelgeboren am 23. Februar 1983 in Großburgwedel2011Referent: Herr Prof. Dr. Bruce AllenKorreferent: Herr Prof. Dr. Michael KramerTag der Promotion: 04. Juli 2011“Those waves will open up to us many vistas unknown to man, and several unknownto anything we consider organic life. (. . . ) We shall see these things, and other thingswhich no breathing creature has yet seen. We shall overleap time, space, and dimensions,and without bodily motion peer to the bottom of creation.”H. P. Lovecraft, From BeyondAbstractNeutron stars are the endpoints of stellar evolution and one of the most compact forms ofmatter in the universe. They can be observed as radio pulsars and are promising sourcesfor the emission of continuous gravitational waves. Discovering new radio pulsars in tightbinary orbits oers the opportunity to conduct very high precision tests of General Relati-vity and to further our understanding of neutron star structure and matter at super-nucleardensities. The direct detection of gravitational waves would validate Einstein’s theory ofRelativity and open a new window to the universe by oering a novel astronomical tool.