ON THE THRESHOLD OF GRAVITATIONAL WAVE ASTRONOMY

The first generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors operates continuously at the design sensitivity. Up to now, no gravitational wave signal has been detected. However, the analysis of the data obtained so far gives upper limits that allow to make statements about, e.g., the ellipticity of neutron stars and to decide on theories predicting properties of the cosmic background radiation. The next generation of gravitational wave detectors is under construction. These will be able (by about 2014) to observe a thousand times larger volume of the Universe as now and to start gravitational wave astronomy.