The Age of Gravitational Wave Astronomy

Detecting gravitational waves has been a very long experimental quest, which came to fruition with the second generation of the LIGO and Virgo ground-based in- terferometric detectors. These groundbreaking instruments have opened a new window on the Universe, revealing cataclysmic astrophysical events. They are spearheading a large-scale endeavor to explore the gravitational-wave spectrum at all frequencies, with rich science cases linked to fundamental physics, astrophysics, cosmology and the physics of the early Universe.