Astrophysical stochastic gravitational wave background

The stochastic gravitational wave background produced by supernovas, magnetars, and merger of binaries constituted of a pair of compact objects is reviewed and updated. The merger of systems composed of two black holes dominates by far the background signal, whose amplitude in the range 10-100 Hz is above the sensitivity of the planned Einstein laser interferometer (ET). The background signal at 25 Hz estimated by the laser interferometric gravitational observatory (LIGO)-VIRGO collaboration, based on the available merger detection data, is in good agreement with the present theoretical predictions.