Gravitational Waves: a New Window on the Dark and Early Universe

Speaker:  Djuna Lize Croon

In anticipation of the next generation of gravitational wave experiments and pulsar timing arrays, I will discuss the opportunities for phenomenological studies of particle physics beyond the Standard Model. The focus of the talk will be on gravitational waves from first order phase transitions in hidden gauge sectors. I will give a pedagogical introduction to the topic, and discuss various examples. I will comment on thermal relics and complementarity with other experiments for particular models. Time permitting, I will also discuss astrophysical sources of gravitational waves and their relation to dark matter.