Interview with Stanley Whitcomb
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Ira Sprague Bowen Papers, 1940-1973
http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf2p300278 No online items Inventory of the Ira Sprague Bowen Papers, 1940-1973 Processed by Ronald S. Brashear; machine-readable finding aid created by Gabriela A. Montoya Manuscripts Department The Huntington Library 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2203 Fax: (626) 449-5720 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=554 © 1998 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Collection Inventory of the Ira Sprague 1 Bowen Papers, 1940-1973 Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Collection Inventory of the Ira Sprague Bowen Paper, 1940-1973 The Huntington Library San Marino, California Contact Information Manuscripts Department The Huntington Library 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2203 Fax: (626) 449-5720 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=554 Processed by: Ronald S. Brashear Encoded by: Gabriela A. Montoya © 1998 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. Descriptive Summary Title: Ira Sprague Bowen Papers, Date (inclusive): 1940-1973 Creator: Bowen, Ira Sprague Extent: Approximately 29,000 pieces in 88 boxes Repository: The Huntington Library San Marino, California 91108 Language: English. Provenance Placed on permanent deposit in the Huntington Library by the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Collection. This was done in 1989 as part of a letter of agreement (dated November 5, 1987) between the Huntington and the Carnegie Observatories. The papers have yet to be officially accessioned. Cataloging of the papers was completed in 1989 prior to their transfer to the Huntington. -
A Time of Great Growth
Newsletter | Spring 2019 A Time of Great Growth Heartfelt greetings from the UC Riverside Department of Physics and Astronomy. This is our annual newsletter, sent out each Spring to stay connected with our former students, retired faculty, and friends in the wider community. The Department continues to grow, not merely in size but also in stature and reputation. For the 2018-2019 academic year, we were pleased to welcome two new faculty: Professors Thomas Kuhlman and Barry Barish. Professor Kuhlman was previously on the faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He joins our efforts in the emerging field of biophysics. His research lies in the quantitative imaging and theoretical modeling of biological systems. He works on genome dynamics, quantification of the activity of transposable elements in living cells, and applications to the engineering of genome editing. Professor Barry Barish, who joins us from Caltech, is the winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics. He brings great prestige to our Department. Along with Professor Richard Schrock of the Department of Chemistry, who also joined UCR in 2018, UCR now has two Nobel Prize winners on its faculty. Professor Barish is an expert on the detection and physics of gravitational waves. He has been one of the key figures in the conception, construction, and operation of the LIGO detector, where gravitational waves were first discovered in 2015, and which led to his Nobel Prize. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the winner of many other prestigious awards. The discovery of gravitational waves is one of the most exciting developments in physics so far this century. -
LIGO Detector and Hardware Introduction
LIGO Detector and Hardware Introduction Virtual Open Data Workshop May 2020 LIGO-G2000795 Outline • Introduction 45W • Interferometry 40W 1.6kW 200kW Locking Optical cavities • Hardware • Noise Fundamental Technical • Commissioning/Observation Runs • Future Detector Plans • Bibliography Gravitational Waves • Metric tensor perturbation in GR = + 2 polarization in GR Scalar and other possible waves ℎ • Free falling masses • Change in laser propagation time • Phase difference in light ∝ ℎ • Interferometry detects phase difference ∝ ℎ • Astronomical Sources Modeling Modeled Unmodeled /Length Modeled vs Unmodeled Short Inspirals (BBH, Bursts Short vs Long BNS, BH/NS) (Supernova) Long Continuous Waves Stochastic Known vs Unknown (Pulsars) Background Sensitivity Estimate • Strain from single photon: = 10 2 • Need strain 10 � −10 ℎ ≅ • Shot noise SNR− 22 = 10 improvement,∝ � 10 photons At1 1002 Hz equivalent to power24 of 20 MW • • With 200 W of input laser power, 45W 200kW 40W 1.6kW requires power gain of 100,000 Total optical gain in LIGO is ~50,000 Ignores other noise sources Gravitational Wave Detector Network GEO 600: Germany Virgo: Italy KAGRA: Japan Interferometry • Book by Peter Saulson • Michelson interferometer Fringe splitting • Fabry-Perot arms Cavity pole, = ⁄4ℱ • Pound-Drever-Hall locking 45W 200kW 40W 1.6kW Match laser frequency to cavity length RF modulation with EOM • Feedback and controls Other LIGO Cavities • Mode cleaners Input and output 45W 200kW 40W 1.6kW Single Gauss-Laguerre mode • Power recycling Output dark -
Ripples in Spacetime
editorial Ripples in spacetime The 2017 Nobel prize in Physics has been awarded to Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne “for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves”. It is, frankly, difficult to find something original to say about the detection of gravitational waves that hasn’t been said already. The technological feat of measuring fluctuations in the fabric of spacetime less than one-thousandth the width of an atomic nucleus is quite simply astonishing. The scientific achievement represented by the confirmation of a century-old prediction by Albert Einstein is unique. And the collaborative effort that made the discovery possible — the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) — is inspiring. Adapted from Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 061102 (2016), under Creative Commons Licence. Rainer Weiss and Kip Thorne were, along with the late Ronald Drever, founders of the project that eventually became known Barry Barish, who was the director Last month we received a spectacular as LIGO. In the 1960s, Thorne, a black hole of LIGO from 1997 to 2005, is widely demonstration that talk of a new era expert, had come to believe that his objects of credited with transforming it into a ‘big of gravitational astronomy was no interest should be detectable as gravitational physics’ collaboration, and providing the exaggeration. Cued by detections at LIGO waves. Separately, and inspired by previous organizational structure required to ensure and Virgo, an interferometer based in Pisa, proposals, Weiss came up with the first it worked. Of course, the passion, skill and Italy, more than 70 teams of researchers calculations detailing how an interferometer dedication of the thousand or so scientists working at different telescopes around could be used to detect them in 1972. -
Abstracts and Speaker Profiles
Project: Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Dr. David Reitze, Executive Director, LIGO Laboratory The Gravitational Wave Astronomical Revolution: India's Emerging Role Abstract: • The past four years have witnessed a revolution in astronomy, enabled by the first detections of gravitational waves from colliding black holes and neutron stars through the direct observation of their gravitational wave emissions by the LIGO and Virgo observatories. These discoveries have profound implications for our understanding of the Universe. Gravitational waves provide unique information about nature's most energetic astrophysical events, revealing insights into the nature of gravity, matter, space, and time that are unobtainable by any other means. In this talk, I will briefly discuss how we detect gravitational waves, how gravitational-wave observatories will revolutionize astronomy in the coming years and decades, and how India is poised to play a key role in the future gravitational wave astronomy. About the Speaker: • David Reitze holds joint positions as the Executive Director of the LIGO Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology and as a Professor of Physics at the University of Florida. His research focuses on the development of gravitational-wave detectors. He received a B.A. in Physics with Honors from Northwestern Univ. and a Ph. D. in Physics from the University of Texas of Austin. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, and the Optical Society. and was jointly awarded the 2017 US National Academy of Sciences Award for Scientific Discovery for his leadership role in LIGO. He is a member of the international LIGO Scientific Collaboration that received numerous awards for the first direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015, including the Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the Gruber Prize for Cosmology, the Princess Asturias Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement, and the American Astronomical Society Bruno Rossi Prize. -
The History of Lasers at Stanford Group
Lasers at 50: Byer The History of Lasers at Stanford Group Robert L. Byer Applied Physics Stanford University [email protected] Abstract In the fifty years since the demonstration of the laser, coherent light has changed the way we work, communicate and play. The generation and control of light is critical for meeting important challenges of the 21st century from fundamental science to the generation of energy. A look back at the early days of the laser at Stanford will be contrasted to the recent breakthroughs in solid state lasers and the applications to fundamental science of gravitational wave detection, remote sensing, and laser induced fusion for energy production. Stanford Historical Society 34th Annual Meeting & Reception May 25, 2010 The History of Lasers at Stanford May 25 2010 Cubberley Auditorium, Staford Byer California – Leader in advanced telescopes for astronomy Group Lick 36 inch refractor The Mount Wilson 100 inch The Palomar 200 inch 1888 1917 1948 The History of Lasers at Stanford May 25 2010 Cubberley Auditorium, Staford From Maser to Laser – stimulated emission at optical frequencies Byer proposed in 1958 – A. Schawlow and C. H. Townes Group The History of Lasers at Stanford May 25 2010 Cubberley Auditorium, Staford Early advances in lasers --- Byer 2009 a Special Year Group Concept of Optical Maser Schawlow & Townes 1958 Ruby Laser Ted Maiman 1960 Nobel Prize awarded in 1964 Townes, Prokhorov and Basov Hg+ Ion Laser Earl Bell 1965 Argon Ion Laser Bill Bridges Tunable cw parametric Laser Harris 1968 Diode bar 1Watt -
Rainer Weiss, Professor of Physics Emeritus and 2017 Nobel Laureate
Giving to the Department of Physics by Erin McGrath RAINER WEISS ’55, PHD ’62 Bryce Vickmark Rai Weiss has established a fellowship in the Physics Department because he is eternally grateful to his advisor, the late Jerrold Zacharias, for all that he did for Rai, so he knows firsthand the importance of supporting graduate students. Rainer Weiss, Professor of Physics Emeritus and 2017 Nobel Laureate. Rainer “Rai” Weiss was born in Berlin, Germany in 1932. His father was a physician and his mother was an actress. His family was forced out of Germany by the Nazis since his father was Jewish and a Communist. Rai, his mother and father fled to Prague, Czecho- slovakia. In 1937 a sister was born in Prague. In 1938, after Chamberlain appeased Hitler by effectively giving him Czechoslovakia, the family was able to obtain visas to enter the United States through the Stix Family in St. Louis, who were giving bond to professional Jewish emigrants. When Rai was 21 years-old, he visited Mrs. Stix and thanked her for what she had done for his family. The family immigrated to New York City. Rai’s father had a hard time passing the medi- cal boards because of his inability to answer multiple choice exams. His mother, who Rai says “held the family together,” worked in a number of retail stores. Through the services of an immigrant relief organization Rai received a scholarship to attend the prestigious Columbia Grammar School. At the end of 1945, when Rai was 13 years old, he became fascinated with electronics and music. -
Matters of Gravity
MATTERS OF GRAVITY The newsletter of the Division of Gravitational Physics of the American Physical Society Number 49 June 2017 Contents DGRAV News: we hear that . , by David Garfinkle ..................... 3 DGRAV student travel grants, by Beverly Berger .............. 4 Research Briefs: The Discovery of GW170104, by Jenne Driggers and Salvatore Vitale ... 5 Obituary: Remembering Vishu, by Naresh Dadhich and Bala Iyer ........... 8 Remembering Cecile DeWitt-Morette, by Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat ..... 13 arXiv:1706.06183v2 [gr-qc] 22 Jun 2017 Remembering Larry Shepley, by Richard Matzner and Mel Oakes ...... 15 Remembering Marcus Ansorg, by Bernd Br¨ugmannand Reinhard Meinel . 16 Conference Reports: EGM20, by Abhay Ashtekar ......................... 18 Editor David Garfinkle Department of Physics Oakland University Rochester, MI 48309 Phone: (248) 370-3411 Internet: garfinkl-at-oakland.edu WWW: http://www.oakland.edu/?id=10223&sid=249#garfinkle Associate Editor Greg Comer Department of Physics and Center for Fluids at All Scales, St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO 63103 Phone: (314) 977-8432 Internet: comergl-at-slu.edu WWW: http://www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/physics/profs/comer.html ISSN: 1527-3431 DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in the articles of this newsletter represent the views of the authors and are not necessarily the views of APS. The articles in this newsletter are not peer reviewed. 1 Editorial The next newsletter is due December 2017. This and all subsequent issues will be available on the web at https://files.oakland.edu/users/garfinkl/web/mog/ All issues before number 28 are available at http://www.phys.lsu.edu/mog Any ideas for topics that should be covered by the newsletter should be emailed to me, or Greg Comer, or the relevant correspondent. -
Proceedings National Academy of Sciences
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Officers BRUCE ALBERTS, President of the JACK HALPERN, Vice President Academy PETER H. RAVEN, Home Secretary F. SHERWOOD ROWLAND, Foreign Secretary MILDRED S. DRESSELHAUS, Treasurer Editor-in-Chief NICHOLAS R. COZZARELLI Editorial Board PETER J. BICKEL JACK HALPERN PAUL R. SCHIMMEL of the MICHAEL T. CLEGG ERIC R. KANDEL STUART L. SCHREIBER Proceedings MARSHALL H. COHEN RICHARD A. LERNER CARLA J. SHATZ STANLEY N. COHEN HARVEY F. LODISH CHRISTOPHER A. SIMS MAX D. COOPER PHIL W. MAJERUS ALLAN C. SPRADLING JAMES E. DARNELL, JR. ARNO G. MOTULSKY LARRY R. SQUIRE IGOR B. DAWID RONALD L. PHILLIPS CHARLES F. STEVENS HERMAN N. EISEN TOM POLLARD JOANNE STUBBE RAYMOND L. ERIKSON STANLEY B. PRUSINER KARL K. TUREKIAN RONALD M. EVANS CHARLES RADDING IRVING L. WEISSMAN NINA FEDOROFF GIAN-CARLO ROTA SHERMAN M. WEISSMAN CHARLES FEFFERMAN DAVID D. SABATINI PETER G. WOLYNES JOSEPH L. GOLDSTEIN GOTTFRIED SCHATZ Publisher: KENNETH R. FULTON Managing Editor: FRANCES R. ZWANZIG Associate Editorial Manager: JOHN M. MALLOY Associate Manager for Production: JOANNE D'AMiCo Author/Member Support Coordinators: REID S. COMPTON, BARBARA A. BACON System Administrator: MARILYN J. MASON Manuscript Processor: JACQUELINE V. PERRY Secretary: BRENDA L. MCCOY Administrative/Systems Aide: DomTTE A. MAY Subscription Fulfillment: JULIA A. LiTTLE Office Assistant: CYNTHIA MATHEWS Correspondence: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20418 (via U.S. postal service) or 1010 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Suite 530, Washington, DC 20007 (via courier service). Information for Contributors: See pp. i and ii (of this issue). -
A Joint Fermilab/SLAC Publication Dimensions of Particle Physics Issue
dimensions volume 03 of particle physics symmetryA joint Fermilab/SLAC publication issue 05 june/july 06 Cover Physicists at Fermilab ponder the physics of the proposed International Linear Collider, as outlined in the report Discovering the Quantum Universe. Photos: Reidar Hahn, Fermilab Office of Science U.S. Department of Energy volume 03 | issue 05 | june/july 06 symmetryA joint Fermilab/SLAC publication 3 Commentary: John Beacom “In a global fi eld, keeping up with all the literature is impossible. Personal contact is essential, and I always urge students and postdocs to go to meetings and talk to strangers.” 4 Signal to Background An industrial waterfall; education by placemats; a super-clean surface; horned owls; Garden Club for particle physicists; Nobel banners; US Congress meets Quantum Universe. 8 Voices: Milestones vs. History Celebrating a milestone is always enjoyable, but a complete and accurate historical record is invalu- able for the past to inform the future. 10 A Report Like No Other Can the unique EPP2010 panel steer US particle physics away from a looming crisis? Physicists and policy makers are depending on it. 14 SNS: Neutrons for ‘molecular movies’ A new research facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has produced its fi rst neutrons, presenting new opportunities for studying materials from semiconductors to human enzymes. 20 Battling the Clouds Electron clouds could reduce the brightness—and discovery potential—of the proposed International Linear Collider. Innovative solutions are on the way and might reduce the cost of the machine, too. 24 A (Magnus) Force on the Mound Professional baseball player Jeff Francis of the Colorado Rockies brings a strong arm and a physics background to the playing fi eld: “I bet Einstein couldn’t throw a curveball.” 26 Deconstruction: Spallation Neutron Source Accelerator-based neutron sources such as the SNS can provide pulses of neutrons to probe superconductors, aluminum bridges, lighter and stronger plastic products, and pharmaceuticals. -
A Brief History of Gravitational Waves
Review A Brief History of Gravitational Waves Jorge L. Cervantes-Cota 1, Salvador Galindo-Uribarri 1 and George F. Smoot 2,3,4,* 1 Department of Physics, National Institute for Nuclear Research, Km 36.5 Carretera Mexico-Toluca, Ocoyoacac, Mexico State C.P.52750, Mexico; [email protected] (J.L.C.-C.); [email protected] (S.G.-U.) 2 Helmut and Ana Pao Sohmen Professor at Large, Institute for Advanced Study, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, 999077 Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. 3 Université Sorbonne Paris Cité, Laboratoire APC-PCCP, Université Paris Diderot, 10 rue Alice Domon et Leonie Duquet 75205 Paris Cedex 13, France. 4 Department of Physics and LBNL, University of California; MS Bldg 50-5505 LBNL, 1 Cyclotron Road Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.:+1-510-486-5505 Abstract: This review describes the discovery of gravitational waves. We recount the journey of predicting and finding those waves, since its beginning in the early twentieth century, their prediction by Einstein in 1916, theoretical and experimental blunders, efforts towards their detection, and finally the subsequent successful discovery. Keywords: gravitational waves; General Relativity; LIGO; Einstein; strong-field gravity; binary black holes 1. Introduction Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, published in November 1915, led to the prediction of the existence of gravitational waves that would be so faint and their interaction with matter so weak that Einstein himself wondered if they could ever be discovered. Even if they were detectable, Einstein also wondered if they would ever be useful enough for use in science. -
Acceptance Speech Kip S. Thorne
Ceremony of the Doctorate Honoris Causa Award to Prof. Kip S. Thorne Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya•BarcelonaTech (UPC). 25th May 2017. Acceptance Speech Kip S. Thorne Thank you, Enrique, for your much too generous description of me and my contributions to science. This honorary doctorate from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya is of great significance to me. It honors, especially, my contributions to LIGO’s discovery of gravitational waves. For this reason, I regard myself as sharing it with the large team of scientists and engineers, whose contributions were essential to our discovery. There are only two types of waves that bring us information about the universe: electromagnetic waves and gravitational waves. They travel at the same speed, but aside from this, they could not be more different. Electromagnetic waves—which include light, infrared waves, microwaves, radio waves, ultraviolet waves, X-rays and gamma rays— these are all oscillations of electric and magnetic fields that travel through space and time. Gravitational waves are oscillations in the fabric of space and time. Galileo Galilei opened up electromagnetic astronomy 400 years ago, when he built a small optical telescope, turned it on the sky, and discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter. We LIGO scientists opened up gravitational astronomy in 2015 when our complex detectors discovered gravitational waves from two colliding black holes, a billion light years from Earth. The efforts that produced these two discoveries could not have been more different. Galileo made his discovery alone, though he built on ideas and technology of others. We LIGO scientists made our discovery through a tight collaboration of more than 1000 scientists and engineers.