WFU Physics Colloquium

TITLE: Exploring the transient Universe with gravitational waves

SPEAKER: Professor Patrick Brady,

TIME: Thursday Nov. 13, 2008 at 4:00 PM

PLACE: Room 101 in Olin Physical Laboratory

The Universe is full of astrophysical objects that emit bursts of electromagnetic radiation and elementary particles. By applying a variety of tools to the study of such transient phenomena, we learn more about the sources that power them. Gravitational waves provide a unique way to study the transient Universe. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) has recently completed taking a year of data at design sensitivity. Among the most likely sources of gravitational radiation detectable by LIGO are the coalescences of stellar-mass, compact-object binaries (i.e. binary systems containing black holes and/or neutron stars). After an introduction to gravitational waves and the LIGO detectors, I will discuss the status of searches for waves from compact binary systems and the implications of LIGO observations for the gamma-ray burst GRB 070201. Looking to the future, I will outline the information that might be obtained by direct observation of gravitational waves from compact binaries and the prospects for combined electromagnetic and gravitational-wave observing campaigns.