Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2010
Volume 55, Number 1
Saturday–Tuesday, February 13–16, 2010; Washington, DC
Session Q4: Ground-based Interferometers on the Road to Gravitational Wave Astrophysics |
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Sponsoring Units: GGR Chair: Laura Cadonati, University of Massachusetts Room: Thurgood Marshall North |
Monday, February 15, 2010 1:30PM - 2:06PM |
Q4.00001: The LIGO and Virgo Gravitational Wave Detectors Invited Speaker: Since 2008, the LIGO and Virgo interferometers have been undergoing substantial upgrades. These include increases of the laser power, improvements in the signal readout hardware, upgrades of the thermal adaptive optics, and improved seismic isolation. I will describe each of these upgrades and how they contribute to the overall sensitivity improvement of the interferometers. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, February 15, 2010 2:06PM - 2:42PM |
Q4.00002: Multi-Messenger Astronomy and Astrophysics with Gravitational-Wave Transients Invited Speaker: The successful construction and operation of the LIGO, GEO600 and Virgo detectors has not yet been rewarded with the detection of a gravitational-wave signal. Nevertheless, searches for gravitational-wave inspirals and more general burst signals are already providing meaningful constraints on the population and characteristics of sources, and in particular on the astrophysics of events which are observed by other means, such as gamma-ray bursts and soft gamma repeater flares. I will present and interpret the results from searches that have been completed, and then describe the ways in which this effort is currently being extended to include more types of astrophysical events observed with different ``messengers'' and more modes of utilizing the gravitational-wave data. Besides the direct outcomes from these searches in the near term, we are building the capability to extract significant astronomical information from the signals which will be detected by Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo in the coming decade. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, February 15, 2010 2:42PM - 3:18PM |
Q4.00003: Science of continuous gravitational wave signals: periodic waves and the stochastic background Invited Speaker: We are at the threshold of a new era in astronomy and astrophysics, the era of gravitational waves. The LIGO-Virgo gravitational-wave detectors have achieved phenomenal sensitivities and recently completed a two year data taking run. A new run is underway with an enhanced hardware configuration--a crucial stepping stone toward next generation gravitational-wave detectors. In this talk I will discuss the latest results of searches for periodic gravitational waves from spinning neutron stars. I will also review the results of searches for the stochastic background of gravitational waves, which could be cosmological or astrophysical in origin. I will give sensitivity projections for the current run and next generation gravitational-wave detectors, and assess their impact on astronomy and cosmology. [Preview Abstract] |
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