FRIDAY, April 10

Special Joint LIGO/TAPIR Seminar, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM, 114 E. Bridge
"Towards Gravitational Wave Astronomy with LIGO," Duncan Brown, Syracuse University.


Abstract:

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) has recorded over one year of triple coincident data at its initial design sensitivity. Observations will resume in summer 2009 with nearly ten times the volume of the Universe accessible to LIGO. Upgrades are underway to increase the volume of the Universe surveyed by a thousandfold or more. One of the remarkable aspects of the search for gravitational waves is that detection of these waves will bring new knowledge of both fundamental physics and astrophysics. To exploit this potential, it is vital that gravitational-wave astrophysicists work closely with the source modeling and astronomical communities. In this talk, I will briefly review the status of the search for gravitational waves from compact binaries. I will describe how information from numerical modeling of binary black holes is being used to improve current and future gravitational-wave searches. I will also describe a proposed new search for gravitational waves coincident with transients from wide-field optical telescopes.