Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2009 APS April Meeting
Volume 54, Number 4
Saturday–Tuesday, May 2–5, 2009; Denver, Colorado
Session D5: Spanning the Gravitational Wave Spectrum |
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Sponsoring Units: GGR Chair: Stanley Whitcomb, California Institute of Technology Room: Governor's Square 15 |
Saturday, May 2, 2009 3:30PM - 4:06PM |
D5.00001: Gravitational Wave Astrophysics using LIGO Invited Speaker: The field of gravitational-wave searches has entered a very exciting time. The LIGO gravitational-wave detectors have achieved unprecedented sensitivities and have recently completed a two-year long observation run. The data acquired during this run are being analyzed and are beginning to yield astrophysical implications. This includes searches for transient sources of gravitational-waves such as GRBs, searches for periodic sources such as pulsars, and searches for stochastic background of gravitational-waves which could be of cosmological or astrophysical origin. Moreover, the next generation ground-based gravitational-wave detectors are already being built. In this talk, I will describe the present status of the LIGO detectors, some of the most recent results obtained using LIGO data, and prospects for the next-generation gravitational-wave detectors. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, May 2, 2009 4:06PM - 4:42PM |
D5.00002: The Science and Technology of LISA Invited Speaker: LISA has long been recognized as an extraordinarily bold mission with an unprecedented huge discovery potential that can not be unlocked from ground or by any other space mission. LISA's observations of gravitational waves in the 0.1mHz to 1Hz frequency range will allow us to study the astrophysics and evolution of black holes, of compact galactic binaries, and of the universe itself. LISA will provide precise measurements of the masses, spins, and luminosity distances of merging massive black holes (MBH) out to the borders of the visible universe. The details in the gravitational waves generated by compact stars falling into a MBH allow us to trace out space time in the strong field limit; the ultimate test of general relativity in an otherwise difficult to study regime. These extreme mass ratio inspirals as well as the MBH mergers will help to understand the evolution of MBHs found for example in the center of most galaxies. The luminosity distances together with red shift measurements from parallel electro-magnetic observations of the host galaxies will produce precise absolute distance measurements on cosmological scales. This enables us to calibrate the Hubble diagram out to red shifts of z=15 shining light on the properties of ``dark energy" throughout the universe. The astrophysics, evolution, and density of ultra-compact objects such as white dwarfs, neutron stars, and stellar size black holes is another science area covered by LISA. LISA will resolve and measure the properties of several 100 individual binaries. In addition, several ten thousand mostly WD binaries will form a gravitational-wave background which contains information about the density of WD binaries in our galaxy. I will review the science case for LISA and will give a brief overview over the technology, and the status of the LISA project. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, May 2, 2009 4:42PM - 5:18PM |
D5.00003: Pulsar timing and Gravitational Wave Detection: Building a galactic scale gravitational wave observatory Invited Speaker: We are entering a new stage in astrophysics, the era of gravitational waves. The detection and study of such waves will allow us to see the universe in a way never before possible. It turns out that observations of a set of exotic stars known as radio pulsars will enable us to detect and characterize nano-Hz gravitational waves. This talk will give an overview of this detection technique as well as discuss the various astrophysical phenomenon we will be able to study using nano-Hz gravitational waves. [Preview Abstract] |
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