Pulsar binaries and GW detection

Pulsar binaries in tight orbits are considered to emit strong gravitational waves (GWs) during the last stage of their coalescences. They form a subset of compact binary mergers, which consists of white dwarfs (WDs), neutron stars (NSs), or black holes (BHs). One of the most famous example of 'merging' pulsar binaries is the Hulse-Taylor pulsar (PSR B1913+16) discovered in 1974 by Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor. About ten NS-NS and several tens of NS-WD binaries are known in our Galaxy. Merging binaries are rare and only a few NS-NS and NS-WD have been discovered to date. A pulsar with a black hole companion is also theoretically expected, but there is yet no detection. Within several years, direct detections of GWs from compact binary mergers will be made by laser interferometers. This will pave a way to study physics of compact binaries that cannot be reached by electromagnetic waves (EM). Pulsar binaries are of particular interest as we can use both EM and GW to probe these systems. In this talk, we present a brief overview on the Galactic pulsar populations and discuss their implications for GW detection.