Challenges and opportunities of gravitational-wave searches above 10 kHz

Nancy Aggarwal; Odylio D. Aguiar; Diego Blas; Andreas Bauswein; Giancarlo Cella; Sebastian Clesse; Adrian Michael Cruise; Valerie Domcke; Sebastian Ellis; Daniel G. Figueroa; Gabriele Franciolini; Camilo García-Cely; Andrew Geraci; Maxim Goryachev; Hartmut Grote; Mark Hindmarsh; Asuka Ito; Joachim Kopp; Sung Mook Lee; Killian Martineau; Jamie McDonald; Francesco Muia; Nikhil Mukund; David Ottaway; Marco Peloso; Krisztian Peters; Fernando Quevedo; Angelo Ricciardone; Andreas Ringwald; Jessica Steinlechner; Sebastian Steinlechner; Sichun Sun; Carlos Tamarit; Michael E. Tobar; Francisco Torrenti; Caner Ünal; Graham White

doi:10.1007/s41114-025-00060-5

Challenges and opportunities of gravitational-wave searches above 10 kHz

Nancy Aggarwal
, Odylio D. Aguiar
, Diego Blas
, Andreas Bauswein
, Giancarlo Cella
, Sebastian Clesse
, Adrian Michael Cruise
, Valerie Domcke^*
, Sebastian Ellis^*
, Daniel G. Figueroa
, Gabriele Franciolini^*
, Camilo García-Cely
, Andrew Geraci
, Maxim Goryachev
, Hartmut Grote
, Mark Hindmarsh
, Asuka Ito
, Joachim Kopp^*
, Sung Mook Lee^*
, Killian Martineau

Jamie McDonald, Francesco Muia, Nikhil Mukund, David Ottaway, Marco Peloso, Krisztian Peters, Fernando Quevedo, Angelo Ricciardone, Andreas Ringwald, Jessica Steinlechner, Sebastian Steinlechner, Sichun Sun, Carlos Tamarit, Michael E. Tobar, Francisco Torrenti, Caner Ünal, Graham White

^*Corresponding author for this work

Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

The first direct measurement of gravitational waves by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations has opened up new avenues to explore our Universe. This White Paper outlines the challenges and gains expected in gravitational-wave searches at frequencies above the LIGO/Virgo band. The scarcity of possible astrophysical sources in most of this frequency range provides a unique opportunity to discover physics beyond the Standard Model operating both in the early and late Universe, and we highlight some of the most promising of these sources. We review several detector concepts that have been proposed to take up this challenge, and compare their expected sensitivity with the signal strength predicted in various models. This report is the summary of a series of workshops on the topic of high-frequency gravitational wave detection, held in 2019 (ICTP, Trieste, Italy), 2021 (online) and 2023 (CERN, Geneva, Switzerland).

Original language	English
Article number	10
Number of pages	134
Journal	Living Reviews in Relativity
Volume	28
Issue number	1
Early online date	3 Nov 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s41114-025-00060-5
Publication status	Published - Dec 2025

Keywords

Axion searches
Compact objects
Gravitational waves
Early universe
Microwave cavities
Quantum sensing

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Aggarwal, N., Aguiar, O. D., Blas, D., Bauswein, A., Cella, G., Clesse, S., Cruise, A. M., Domcke, V., Ellis, S., Figueroa, D. G., Franciolini, G., García-Cely, C., Geraci, A., Goryachev, M., Grote, H., Hindmarsh, M., Ito, A., Kopp, J., Lee, S. M., ... White, G. (2025). Challenges and opportunities of gravitational-wave searches above 10 kHz. Living Reviews in Relativity, 28(1), Article 10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41114-025-00060-5

@article{9dafa39141724371b65a6c5150d36577,

title = "Challenges and opportunities of gravitational-wave searches above 10 kHz",

abstract = "The first direct measurement of gravitational waves by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations has opened up new avenues to explore our Universe. This White Paper outlines the challenges and gains expected in gravitational-wave searches at frequencies above the LIGO/Virgo band. The scarcity of possible astrophysical sources in most of this frequency range provides a unique opportunity to discover physics beyond the Standard Model operating both in the early and late Universe, and we highlight some of the most promising of these sources. We review several detector concepts that have been proposed to take up this challenge, and compare their expected sensitivity with the signal strength predicted in various models. This report is the summary of a series of workshops on the topic of high-frequency gravitational wave detection, held in 2019 (ICTP, Trieste, Italy), 2021 (online) and 2023 (CERN, Geneva, Switzerland).",

keywords = "Axion searches, Compact objects, Gravitational waves, Early universe, Microwave cavities, Quantum sensing",

author = "Nancy Aggarwal and Aguiar, \{Odylio D.\} and Diego Blas and Andreas Bauswein and Giancarlo Cella and Sebastian Clesse and Cruise, \{Adrian Michael\} and Valerie Domcke and Sebastian Ellis and Figueroa, \{Daniel G.\} and Gabriele Franciolini and Camilo Garc{\'i}a-Cely and Andrew Geraci and Maxim Goryachev and Hartmut Grote and Mark Hindmarsh and Asuka Ito and Joachim Kopp and Lee, \{Sung Mook\} and Killian Martineau and Jamie McDonald and Francesco Muia and Nikhil Mukund and David Ottaway and Marco Peloso and Krisztian Peters and Fernando Quevedo and Angelo Ricciardone and Andreas Ringwald and Jessica Steinlechner and Sebastian Steinlechner and Sichun Sun and Carlos Tamarit and Tobar, \{Michael E.\} and Francisco Torrenti and Caner {\"U}nal and Graham White",

year = "2025",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1007/s41114-025-00060-5",

language = "English",

volume = "28",

journal = "Living Reviews in Relativity",

issn = "1433-8351",

publisher = "Living Reviews",

number = "1",

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Aggarwal, N, Aguiar, OD, Blas, D, Bauswein, A, Cella, G, Clesse, S, Cruise, AM, Domcke, V, Ellis, S, Figueroa, DG, Franciolini, G, García-Cely, C, Geraci, A, Goryachev, M, Grote, H, Hindmarsh, M, Ito, A, Kopp, J, Lee, SM, Martineau, K, McDonald, J, Muia, F, Mukund, N, Ottaway, D, Peloso, M, Peters, K, Quevedo, F, Ricciardone, A, Ringwald, A, Steinlechner, J, Steinlechner, S, Sun, S, Tamarit, C, Tobar, ME, Torrenti, F, Ünal, C & White, G 2025, 'Challenges and opportunities of gravitational-wave searches above 10 kHz', Living Reviews in Relativity, vol. 28, no. 1, 10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41114-025-00060-5

TY - JOUR

T1 - Challenges and opportunities of gravitational-wave searches above 10 kHz

AU - Aggarwal, Nancy

AU - Aguiar, Odylio D.

AU - Blas, Diego

AU - Bauswein, Andreas

AU - Cella, Giancarlo

AU - Clesse, Sebastian

AU - Cruise, Adrian Michael

AU - Domcke, Valerie

AU - Ellis, Sebastian

AU - Figueroa, Daniel G.

AU - Franciolini, Gabriele

AU - García-Cely, Camilo

AU - Geraci, Andrew

AU - Goryachev, Maxim

AU - Grote, Hartmut

AU - Hindmarsh, Mark

AU - Ito, Asuka

AU - Kopp, Joachim

AU - Lee, Sung Mook

AU - Martineau, Killian

AU - McDonald, Jamie

AU - Muia, Francesco

AU - Mukund, Nikhil

AU - Ottaway, David

AU - Peloso, Marco

AU - Peters, Krisztian

AU - Quevedo, Fernando

AU - Ricciardone, Angelo

AU - Ringwald, Andreas

AU - Steinlechner, Jessica

AU - Steinlechner, Sebastian

AU - Sun, Sichun

AU - Tamarit, Carlos

AU - Tobar, Michael E.

AU - Torrenti, Francisco

AU - Ünal, Caner

AU - White, Graham

PY - 2025/12

Y1 - 2025/12

N2 - The first direct measurement of gravitational waves by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations has opened up new avenues to explore our Universe. This White Paper outlines the challenges and gains expected in gravitational-wave searches at frequencies above the LIGO/Virgo band. The scarcity of possible astrophysical sources in most of this frequency range provides a unique opportunity to discover physics beyond the Standard Model operating both in the early and late Universe, and we highlight some of the most promising of these sources. We review several detector concepts that have been proposed to take up this challenge, and compare their expected sensitivity with the signal strength predicted in various models. This report is the summary of a series of workshops on the topic of high-frequency gravitational wave detection, held in 2019 (ICTP, Trieste, Italy), 2021 (online) and 2023 (CERN, Geneva, Switzerland).

AB - The first direct measurement of gravitational waves by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations has opened up new avenues to explore our Universe. This White Paper outlines the challenges and gains expected in gravitational-wave searches at frequencies above the LIGO/Virgo band. The scarcity of possible astrophysical sources in most of this frequency range provides a unique opportunity to discover physics beyond the Standard Model operating both in the early and late Universe, and we highlight some of the most promising of these sources. We review several detector concepts that have been proposed to take up this challenge, and compare their expected sensitivity with the signal strength predicted in various models. This report is the summary of a series of workshops on the topic of high-frequency gravitational wave detection, held in 2019 (ICTP, Trieste, Italy), 2021 (online) and 2023 (CERN, Geneva, Switzerland).

KW - Axion searches

KW - Compact objects

KW - Gravitational waves

KW - Early universe

KW - Microwave cavities

KW - Quantum sensing

U2 - 10.1007/s41114-025-00060-5

DO - 10.1007/s41114-025-00060-5

M3 - Article

SN - 1433-8351

VL - 28

JO - Living Reviews in Relativity

JF - Living Reviews in Relativity

IS - 1

M1 - 10

ER -

Challenges and opportunities of gravitational-wave searches above 10 kHz

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Keywords

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