  Extremely powerful magnetic fields are contained inside neutron stars. Their
effect is to deform the shape of the star, leading to the emission of
continuous gravitational waves. The magnetic deformation of neutron stars
depends on the details of their magnetic field, that is its geometry and
strength. Moreover, it depends on their composition, described by the equation
of state. Unfortunately, both the configuration of the magnetic field and the
equation of state of neutron stars are unkown, and assessing the detectability
of continuous gravitational waves from neutron stars suffers from these
uncertainties. Using our recent results relating the magnetic deformation of a
neutron star to its mass and radius, and considering the Galactic pulsar
population, we assess the detectability of continuous gravitational waves from
pulsars in the Galaxy - described by realistic equations of state currently
allowed by observational and nuclear physics constraints - by gravitational
waves detectors.
