Colloquium: Multimessenger astronomy with continuous gravitational waves and future detectors
Rev. Mod. Phys. 98, 011002 – Published 10 March, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/jdlt-7czp
Abstract
Continuous gravitational waves from rapidly rotating neutron stars are on the new frontiers of gravitational-wave astrophysics and have strong connections to electromagnetic astronomy, nuclear astrophysics, and condensed matter physics. This Colloquium surveys prospects for the detection of continuous gravitational waves from various neutron star populations, especially when aided by electromagnetic observations. Although there are caveats, current theories and observations suggest that the first detections are likely with planned improvements to current detectors, and that many are likely with next-generation detectors such as Cosmic Explorer and the Einstein Telescope. This Colloquium also surveys what can be learned from these signals, each of which will contain more cycles than all the compact binary mergers ever detected. Since continuous gravitational-wave emission mechanisms depend on aspects of neutron star physics, such as crustal elasticity, that are not well constrained by current astronomical observations and physical experiments, their detection can tell us a great deal that is new about extreme matter. Even more can be learned by combining gravitational-wave observations with data from the Square Kilometre Array, the Next Generation Very Large Array, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, and other electromagnetic detectors operating in the next-generation era.
