DOCSLIB.ORG

This Week's Program: Gravitational Waves a Look Ahead

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
This Week's Program: Gravitational Waves a Look Ahead THE ROTARY CLUB OF SYRACUSE • CLUB #42 • ROTARY INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT 7150 • CHARTERED 1912 • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24 2017 This Week's Program: Gravitational Waves A Look Ahead SU's College of Arts & Sciences' Gravitational Wave Group FEBRUARY 24 Program Committee 12:00 pm these electromagnetic RCS Club Meeting Gravitational Waves waves cannot, allowing us PP Peter Seiffert (2009-10) presiding are one of the most re- to directly observe black UPSTAIRS MEMBERS LOUNGE markable predictions holes and other massive Program of Einstein's theory of objects in the distant Peter Saulson's Gravitational Waves general relativity. These Universe. Since the grav- MARCH 3 waves are ripples in the itational waves we will observe are generated by 12:00 pm curvature of spacetime which carry information very strong gravitational RCS Club Meeting fields, precision measure- PP Brad Strait (1994-95) presiding about the changing grav- ments of these waves will Program itational fields of distant Physicist Peter R. Saulson also allow us to perform Jane Amico of Centerstate CEO sources. Although you can generate gravitational unprecedented tests of MARCH 9 waves just by shaking your fist, to gen- the general theory of relativity. 6:00 pm erate gravitational waves strong enough A world-wide effort to detect gravita- New RCS Member Social to be detectable with current technolo- tional waves is now underway, with de- Onondaga Room at Drumlins gy needs extremely dense, massive ob- tectors in the United States, Germany, Italy and Japan. The U.S. Laser Inter- MARCH 10 jects, such as black holes and neutron stars, and moving at very high speeds. ferometer Gravitational-wave Obser- 11:00 am By measuring gravitational waves, we vatory (LIGO) has recently completed RCS Board of Directors hope to learn about systems that cannot the remarkable task of taking one year March Meeting be observed with existing means, such of data coincident between its three de- 12:00 pm as optical, radio, infrared, etc. Gravi- tectors at design sensitivity. This data RCS Club Meeting see NAS RECOGNIZES page 2 >> PP Brad Strait (1994-95) presiding tational waves can penetrate regions Program Church of the Holy Family LAST-MINUTE SYRACUSE ROTARY VENUE CHANGE (2016-17 Grant Recipient) The February 24 Club meeting will be in the Upstairs Member Lounge MARCH 17 In his early days, Einstein postulated that the correct inter- 11:00 am pretation of the special theory of relativity must also fur- Syracuse Rotary Foundation March Trustee Meeting nish a theory of gravitation and in 1916 he published his paper on the general theory of relativity. During this time 12:00 pm he also contributed to the problems of the theory of radia- RCS Club Meeting tion and statistical mechanics. PP J. Gladziszewski (1995-96) presiding Program Einstein always appeared to have a clear view of the prob- Syracuse City School District lems of physics and the determination to solve them. He Superintendent had a strategy of his own and was able to visualize the main stages on the way to his goal. z PRESIDENT PRESIDENT-ELECT SECRETARY TREASURER SERGEANT-AT-ARMS ROBERT SHERBURNE MARYLIN GALIMI MICHAEL GEORGE DAN MORROW HAROLD SCHUMM FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2017 NAS Recognizes Saulson from pg. 1 SU's Contribution to Einstein's may contain the first gravitational waves to be seen. Upgrades to the LIGO and Virgo detec- Research on Gravity Waves tors are underway to increase their sensitivity. A Research group devoted to Einstein's theory of gravity new window has been opened on the universe and the detection of gravitational radiation is www.syracuse.com | February 15, 2016 one of the most eagerly anticipated events of twenty-first century physics. Since 1947, Syracuse University has been a player in the pursuit of Through its membership of the LIGO Scien- proving Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. tific Collaboration, the Syracuse Gravitational That's when one of Einstein's research assistants at Princeton Uni- Wave Group is contributing to the search for versity, Peter Bergmann, started working at SU. He put the SU's gravitational waves in LIGO and Virgo data physics department on the map as one of the main centers for the and is helping to develop techniques which will development of quantum gravity - an outgrowth of Einstein's theory. be used to improve the advanced generation of SU was the first university in the United States that had a research detectors. group specially devoted to Einstein's theory of gravity, SU physicist Peter Saulson has a Ph. D. and an A. M. in Peter Saulson said. Physics, both from Princeton University as well Jump ahead a half-century. SU's physics department was a major as an A. B. magna cum laude in Physics from player in a discovery from deep space that confirms the final piece of Harvard College. Mr. Saulson is currently a Einstein's theory. Faculty members of the department were among Martin A. Pomerantz ’37 Professor of Phys- 1,000 scientists across the world involved in the Laser Interferome- ics at Syracuse University and Adjunct Pro- ter Gravitational-Wave Observatory experiment. It was designed to fessor of Physics at Louisiana State University. hunt for the elusive gravitational waves from two telescopes on Earth. Saulson is the author of dozens of publications In 1991, Saulson became the first person outside of MIT or Caltech pertaining to gravitational wave detection from funded by the National Science Foundation for LIGO-related re- the data collected at the LIGO and Virgo ob- search. Those are the project's two parent institutions. servatories. SU's role since then has been developing the technology needed In January Peter was named a co-recipient of for LIGO and its two massive telescopes - one in Louisiana and the the 2017 NAS (U.S. National Academy of Sci- other in the state of Washington - and the development of software ences) Award for Scientific Discovery. Saulson that can find signals like the one just found. The team also included is joined by Gabriela González G’95, professor professor Steven Penn at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in of physics and astronomy at Louisiana State Geneva. University (and, coincidentally, his first Ph.D. In SU's physics labs, faculty and students researched where mirrors student at Syracuse), and David Howard Reit- should be hung in the LIGO telescopes and what material should be ze, executive director of the LIGO Laboratory used for the mirrors and even the wires that held them up. The wires at the California Institute of Technology and ended up being made of glass because it created less internal noise professor of physics at the University of Flor- that would've interfered with LIGO's search for signals from outer ida. All three have served as spokespersons for space. the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. "If you pick the wrong material, the instrument itself will rumble Saulson, along with González and Reitze, will too much," Saulson said. be recognized at the academy’s annual meet- Another current SU physics professor, Duncan Brown, played a big ing on Sunday, April 30, in Washington, D.C., role in LIGO. He was a renowned expert on writing computer pro- where he will receive a gold-plated bronze grams that analyzed data for signals like those that LIGO hoped to medal and will share a $50,000 cash prize and find. Brown wrote the code for the data analysis software for binary $50,000 to support his group’s research at Syr- z star systems used by LIGO, Saulson said. acuse. "Other people have ideas, but his have been the most successful and the result that we released (last week) came from the software PLEASE NOTE: that his team developed," Saulson said. Another SU role: it contributed the use of its computers at the SYRACUSE ROTARY MEETING LOCATIONS The following dates are Syracuse Rotary meetings moved Green Data Center, plus the unused computer cycles of the desk- from where we usually meet in The Onondaga Room to top computers campus-wide while people weren't using them. Those the Upstairs Members Lounge at Drumlins: desktop computers worked overnight as a collective super computer February 24 | March 10 | April 7 | May 12 | June 9 to analyze gravity wave data from LIGO. z Page - 2 SYRACUSE ROTARY PRESS syracuserotary.org's Identity Updated REGISTER NOW for In keeping with Rotary International's newest identi- "People of Action Dinner" ty standards, which were drastically changed in 2014, our Club's web presence has been updated and now incorpo- honoring Ian Riseley, rates RI's new logos, color schemes, and typefaces. Admire RI President Elect our new website by pointing your web browser to: • Saturday, March 18, 2017 www.syracuserotary.org • Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel, 801 University Ave, Who Was Martin A. Pomerantz Syracuse 13210 • 6pm Cocktails & 7pm Dinner Pomerantz received a Centennial Medal followed by an address from RI from Syracuse University in 1970 PE Ian Riseley The venue is limited • $40 per person includes to 300 guests, so this www.wikipedia.com | so it must be true parking in adjacent garage event will sell out. Do Martin Arthur Pomerantz (December 17, 1916 – Octo- • Register online: not wait to register! www.rotary7150.org/Page/ ber 26, 2008) was an American physicist who served as Di- people-of-action-dinner rector of the Bartol Research Institute and who had been a leader in developing Antarctic astronomy. When the astro- The number of nomical observatory at the United States Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station was opened in 1995, it was named the cards left in the Martin A. Pomerantz Observatory (MAPO) in his honor. Queen of Hearts Pomerantz published his scientific autobiography, Astron- drawing as of omy on Ice, in 2004.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 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
    [Show full text]
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • Stefan W. Ballmer
    Stefan W. Ballmer Curriculum Vitae Department of Physics Phone: +1-315-443-3882 Syracuse University Cell: +1-315-278-1154 Syracuse, NY 13244 Fax: +1-315-443-9103 USA E-mail: [email protected] Citizenship: USA, Switzerland Web: thecollege.syr.edu/people/faculty/ballmer-stefan RECENT AND CURRENT POSITIONS Jun 2016 - Associate Professor of Physics present Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY May 2019 - Visiting Associate Professor of Physics Jun 2019 Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Japan May 2018 - Visiting Associate Professor of Physics Jun 2018 Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Japan May 2017 - Visiting Associate Professor of Physics Jun 2017 University of Tokyo, Japan Jun 2013 - Research leave at the LIGO Hanford Observatory Aug 2014 Commissioning the Advanced LIGO interferometer Aug 2010 - Assistant Professor of Physics May 2016 Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY Dec 2009 - NAOJ Visiting Researcher Aug 2010 National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Sep 2009 - JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow (Gaikokujin Tokubetsu Kenkyuin) Nov 2009 National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Jul 2006 - Robert A. Millikan Postdoctoral Fellow Aug 2009 California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA EDUCATION Jun 2006 Ph.D. Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA Experimental Astrophysics, Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO). Apr 2000 Diploma (equivalent to Master of Science), Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland With honor, in Theoretical
    [Show full text]
  • Joshua R. Smith
    Joshua R. Smith The Nicholas and Lee Begovich Center for Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astronomy Department of Physics California State University Fullerton 800 N. State College Blvd. Fullerton, CA 92831 E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (657)-278-3716 Web: https://physics.fullerton.edu/∼josmith/ Appointments 2016– Dan Black Director of Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astronomy 2018– Professor of Physics 2014–2018 Associate Professor of Physics 2010–2014 Assistant Professor of Physics California State University Fullerton (CSUF) 2007–2009 Postdoctoral Research Associate in Physics Syracuse University 2006–2007 Postdoctoral Fellow in Physics Albert Einstein Institute Hannover / EGO-Virgo Education 2002–2006 Ph.D. Physics (Dr. rer. nat.), Leibniz Universitat¨ Hannover • Advisor: Karsten Danzmann • Thesis: “Formulation of Instrument Noise Analysis Techniques and Their Use in the Commissioning of the Gravitational Wave Observatory GEO 600” 1998–2002 B.Sc. Physics, Syracuse University • Advisor: Peter Saulson • Thesis: “Thermal Noise Associated with Silicate Bonding” Leadership 2012– Director, The Nicholas and Lee Begovich Center for Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astron- omy, CSUF 2019– Co-I, Cosmic Explorer Project, Member, Cosmic Explorer Consortium 2016–2017 Member, Executive Committee, APS Far West Section 2011–2015 Chair, Detector Characterization Group, LIGO Scientific Collaboration 2011–2015 Member, Executive Committee, LIGO Scientific Collaboration 2008– Member, Council, LIGO Scientific Collaboration 2008–2010 Co-chair, Glitch Working
    [Show full text]
  • A Brief History of LIGO
    A Brief History of LIGO One hundred years ago, using his recently formulated general relativity theory, Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves and described their properties. To Einstein these waves seemed too weak ever to be detected, even for the strongest sources that he could conceive. Over the subsequent decades, our improving knowledge of the universe (black holes, neutron stars, supernovae …) and the march of technology (lasers, computers, solid state electronics, low loss optics….) have changed that. In the 1960s, Joseph Weber at the University of Maryland pioneered the effort to build detectors for gravitational waves, using large cylinders of aluminum that vibrate in response to a passing wave, an approach which broke the ground for the field of gravitational-wave searches. LIGO’s approach, using laser interferometry to monitor the relative motion of freely hanging mirrors, was proposed as a theoretical concept form in 1962 by Michael Gertsenshtein and Vladislav Pustovoit in Moscow Russia, and independently several years later by Weber and by Rainer Weiss in America. In 1967, Weiss investigated a laser interferometer limited at some frequencies by quantum shot noise, and in 1972 he completed the invention of the interferometric gravitational wave detector by identifying all the fundamental noise sources that such a detector must face, and conceiving ways to deal with each of them, and by showing that — at least in principle — these ways could lead to detector sensitivities good enough to detect waves from astrophysical sources. Prototype interferometric gravitational wave detectors (“interferometers”) were built in the late 1960s by Robert Forward and colleagues at Hughes Research Laboratories (with mirrors mounted on a vibration isolated plate rather than free swinging), and in the 1970s (with free swinging mirrors between which light bounced many times) by Weiss at MIT, and then by Hans Billing and colleagues in Garching Germany, and then by Ronald Drever, James Hough and colleagues in Glasgow Scotland.
    [Show full text]
  • Abstracts Map Biographies Contact Information Bibliography T080068-00-R
    Abstracts Map Biographies Contact Information Bibliography T080068-00-R Building 33 (Bridge): 201 – Workshop 012 – Caltech Quantum Optics Lab Building 48 (Lauritsen): 039 – LIGO Metrology Lab Building 49 (Synochtron) Thermal Noise Interferometer Building 69 (Off Map): LIGO 40 meter prototype Overview: Thursday 1:30 – 3:30 Overview of Ion Beam Sputtering of Optical Coatings Ramin Lalezari, Advanced Thin Films, Longmont CO 80501, USA An overview of Ion Beam Sputtering (IBS) will be presented. A brief discussion of the history of ion beam sputtering technology will be presented covering the early development of ion sources as propulsion engines for spacecraft and their evolution as deposition sources for optical thin films. The deposition process will be described and compared to other common methods of producing optical coatings. A discussion of the materials commonly sputtered with the IBS process and the film qualities will conclude the presentation. An Introduction to the Test Mass Mirror Coatings in Advanced LIGO Steve Penn, Hobart and William Smith Colleges I will present a brief overview of Advanced LIGO and how the goals of that detector establish the requirements of the mirror coatings. We will review the desired optical and mechanical characteristics, and then focus on the challenge of obtaining the low thermal noise threshold. Macroscopic Tests of Quantum Mechanics with Optical Coatings Markus Aspelmeyer, Austrian Academy of Sciences There is currently enormous progress towards achieving experimentally the quantum regime of massive mechanical systems. This regime offers fascinating perspectives from quantum-limited sensing applications to the generation of quantum superpositions of macroscopically distinct mechanical states (Schrödinger’s cat) that allow for tests of quantum theory in a hitherto unachievable parameter range.
    [Show full text]
  • Characterization of Enhanced Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detectors and Studies of Numeric Simulations for Compact- Binary Coalescences
    Syracuse University SURFACE Physics - Dissertations College of Arts and Sciences 12-2011 Characterization of Enhanced Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detectors and Studies of Numeric Simulations for Compact- Binary Coalescences Larne Pekowsky Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/phy_etd Part of the Physics Commons Recommended Citation Pekowsky, Larne, "Characterization of Enhanced Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detectors and Studies of Numeric Simulations for Compact-Binary Coalescences" (2011). Physics - Dissertations. 116. https://surface.syr.edu/phy_etd/116 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts and Sciences at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Physics - Dissertations by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract Gravitational waves are a consequence of the general theory of relativity. Direct detection of such waves will provide a wealth of information about physics, astronomy, and cosmology. A worldwide effort is currently underway to make the first direct detection of gravitational waves. The global network of detectors includes the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), which recently completed its sixth science run. A particularly promising source of gravitational waves is a binary system consist- ing of two neutron stars and/or black holes. As the objects orbit each other they emit gravitational radiation, lose energy, and spiral inwards. This produces a characteristic “chirp” signal for which we can search in the LIGO data. Currently this is done using matched-filter techniques, which correlate the detector data against analytic models of the emitted gravitational waves. Several choices must be made in constructing a search for signals from such binary coalescences.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae – UMD Format
    Peter S. Shawhan Curriculum Vitae – UMD format I. Personal Information Full name: Peter Sven Shawhan UMD UID: 109265683 Address: Physical Sciences Complex (Building 415), room 2120 The University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742-2440 Phone: 301-405-1580 Email: [email protected] Web: http://umdphysics.umd.edu/people/faculty/current/item/472-pshawhan.html Academic Appointments at UMD Professor, July 2017 – present Associate Professor, July 2012 – June 2017 Assistant Professor, May 2006 – June 2012 Administrative Appointments at UMD Associate Chair for Graduate Education, Department of Physics, July 2014 – June 2019 Other Employment Senior Scientist, California Institute of Technology, 2002 – 2006 Millikan Prize Postdoctoral Fellow, California Institute of Technology, 1999 – 2002 Educational Background The University of Chicago, September 1990 – August 1999 . M.S. in Physics, December 1992 . Ph.D. in Physics, December 1999 Dissertation: “Observation of Direct CP Violation in KS,L Decays” Faculty advisor: Prof. Bruce D. Winstein Washington University in St. Louis, August 1986 – May 1990 . A.B. (Physics major, Chemistry and Math minor), summa cum laude, May 1990 Professional Certifications, Licenses, and Memberships Fellow of the American Physical Society Member of the American Astronomical Society Life Member of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation Member of the American Association of Physics Teachers 1 II. Research, Scholarly, Creative and/or Professional Activities Notes about authorship conventions: Most of my research has been conducted within large collaborations, and I am a co-author on many papers as a result. The standard practice in these collaborations is to list all active members as authors, strictly alphabetically in most cases, to represent the contributions that all of us have made to the assembly, testing, infrastructure, operation, data analysis and internal review for the experiments and results.
    [Show full text]
  • Unlocking the Secrets of the Universe: Gravitational Waves”
    Gabriela González Written Testimony “Unlocking the Secrets of the Universe: Gravitational Waves” February 24, 2016 Mr. Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Johnson, and Members of the Committee: it is an honor to testify here on behalf of my collaborators. We thank you for your interest in gravitational wave science, and your support of the National Science Foundation funding our research in the US. INTRODUCTION I am Gabriela González, a professor of Physics anD Astronomy at Louisiana State University, and the current spokesperson of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. My colleague Dr. Reitze has described the exciting science of this discovery. I will describe the role of the international LIGO Scientific Collaboration in current and future research for LIGO, and the contributions of that research to the eDucation and training of the future scientific workforce. THE LIGO SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATION Our charter Defines our mission: “The LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) is a self- governing collaboration seeking to Detect gravitational waves, use them to explore the funDamental physics of gravity, anD Develop gravitational wave observations as a tool of astronomical Discovery. The LSC works towarD this goal through research on, anD Development of techniques for, gravitational wave detection; and the Development, commissioning anD exploitation of gravitational wave Detectors. No inDiviDual or group will be DenieD membership on any basis except scientific merit and the willingness to participate and contribute as described in this Charter.” The LSC was formeD in 1997 to exploit fully the scientific potential of the LIGO instruments then under construction, and to engage in the research and Development necessary to go significantly beyond the first generation of interferometers.
    [Show full text]
  • A Brief History of LIGO Web Page
    A Brief History of LIGO One hundred years ago, using his recently formulated general relativity theory, Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves and described their properties. To Einstein these waves seemed too weak ever to be detected, even for the strongest sources that he could conceive. Over the subsequent decades, our improving knowledge of the universe (black holes, neutron stars, supernovae …) and the march of technology (lasers, computers, solid state electronics, low loss optics….) have changed that. In the 1960s, Joseph Weber at the University of Maryland pioneered the effort to build detectors for gravitational waves, using large cylinders of aluminum that vibrate in response to a passing wave, an approach that is still pursued today. LIGO’s approach, using laser interferometry to monitor the relative motion of freely hanging mirrors, was proposed in outline form in 1962 by Michael Gertsenshtein and Vladislav Pustovoit in Moscow Russia, and independently several years later by Weber and by Rainer Weiss in America. In 1967, Weiss demonstrated a laser interferometer with sensitivity limited only by photon shot noise, and in 1972 he completed the invention of the interferometric gravitational wave detector by identifying all the fundamental noise sources that such a detector must face, and conceiving ways to deal with each of them, and by showing that — at least in principle — these ways could lead to detector sensitivities good enough to detect waves from astrophysical sources. Prototype interferometric gravitational wave detectors (“interferometers”) were built in the late 1960s by Robert Forward and colleagues at Hughes Research Laboratories (with mirrors mounted on a vibration isolated plate rather than free swinging), and in the 1970s (with free swinging mirrors between which light bounced many times) by Weiss at MIT, and then by Hans Billing and colleagues in Garching Germany, and then by Ronald Drever, James Hough and colleagues in Glasgow Scotland.
    [Show full text]
  • Gravitational Wave Experiments
    GRAVITATIONAL WAVE EXPERIMENTS Rainer Weiss MIT&LIGO Gravitation: A Decennial Perspective June 8, 2003 Center for Gravitational Physics and Geometry Pennsylvania State University Other relevant presentations • 6/8/03 Gabriela Gonzalez Data Analysis of Gravitational Wave Data • 6/10/03 Scott Hughes Gravitational Wave Astronomy with LISA V. FAFONE 15th SIGRAV Conference, September 11, 2002 Direct detection of gravitational waves from astrophysical sources Physics » Observations of gravitation in the strong field, high velocity limit » Determination of wave kinematics – polarization and propagation » Tests for alternative relativistic gravitational theories Astrophysics » Measurement of coherent inner dynamics – stellar collapse, pulsar formation…. » Compact binary coalescence – neutron star/neutron star, black hole/black hole » Neutron star equation of state » Primeval cosmic spectrum of gravitational waves Gravitational wave survey of the universe LIGO-G9900XX-00-M THE RADIATION FIELD Transverse Plane Wave Solutions with \Electric" and \Magnetic" Terms Geometric Interpretation 2 i j ds = g dx dx ij g = + h weak eld ij ij ij 0 1 1 0 Minkowski Metric of 1 B C = @ A ij 0 1 Sp ecial Relativity 1 Gravity Wave Propagating in the x Direction 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 B C h = all h 1 @ A ij ij 0 0 h h 22 23 0 0 h h 32 33 Plane Wave h = h h = h 22 33 23 32 + p olarization p olarization And All Only Function of x ct 1 Measurement challenge Needed technology development to measure: h = ∆L/L < 10-21 ∆L < 4 x 10-18 meters LIGO-G9900XX-00-M INTERPRETATION
    [Show full text]