Zachary Burr Metzler
Dept. of Physics, University of Maryland
Opportunities for an MeV Telescope in the Search for Gravitational Waves from Pulsars
Pulsars are spinning neutron stars with quasi-periodic rotations. This quasi-periodicity is a potential source for continuous gravitational waves. Additionally, when pulsars undergo a sudden spin-up event called a pulsar glitch they may produce a transient gravitational wave signal. An interesting subset of pulsars emit gamma rays that peak in the MeV range. These MeV pulsars are thought to be younger with steeper spin-down rates and more frequent glitches. However, the MeV gamma-ray regime has been underexplored relative to other energy ranges. In this talk, I will highlight recent searches for pulsar-produced gravitational waves. I will also discuss the challenges and design considerations of an MeV telescope and recent results from ComPair, an MeV gamma ray telescope prototype that just completed a short-duration balloon flight. Finally, I will report on the advances an MeV observatory would bring to pulsar studies.