Description:

Northwestern University's Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics
CIERA 8th ANNUAL PUBLIC LECTURE

-- Free and open to the public.
-- No registration or ticket required.
-- Campus parking lots are unrestricted after 4:00 pm.
-- Room: Tech LR3 (enter through the main entrance, turn right)

Dr. Rainer Weiss, Professor of Physics, Emeritus
Massachusetts Institute of Technology on behalf of the
Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration

Talk Abstract:
The recent observation of gravitational waves from the merger of binary black holes opens a new way to learn about the universe as well as to test General Relativity in the limit of strong gravitational interactions – the dynamics of massive bodies traveling at relativistic speeds in a highly curved space-time. The lecture will describe some of the difficult history of gravitational waves proposed exactly 100 years ago. The concepts used in the instruments and the methods for data analysis that enable the measurement of gravitational wave strains of 10-21 and smaller will be presented. The results derived from the measured waveforms, their relation to the Einstein field equations and the astrophysical implications are discussed. The talk will end with our vision for the future of gravitational wave astronomy.

Image credit: Ken Richardson