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SEARCHING FOR GRAVITATIONAL WAVES Kaczmarska A. The gravitational waves, a new tool in understanding the Universe, becomes a reality. The gravitational radiation, prediction of Einstein's general theory of relativity, has not yet been directly verified. Recent technical developments have enabled the construction of detectors with sensitivities sufficient to measure directly the radiation of astrophysical sources. These detectors will operate together as a network, taking data continuously, listening to the waves from coalescing compact binary systems, stellar collapses, pulsars and the early Universe background. The review covers the present state of gravitational radiation detection, the future detectors plans and the sources of the gravitational waves that are likely to play an important role in upcoming observations. |