PIRSA:16050009

The Dawn of Gravitational Wave Astronomy

Hanna, C. (2016). The Dawn of Gravitational Wave Astronomy. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/16050009

Hanna, Chad. The Dawn of Gravitational Wave Astronomy. Perimeter Institute, May. 18, 2016, https://pirsa.org/16050009 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:16050009,
            doi = {10.48660/16050009},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/16050009},
            author = {Hanna, Chad},
            keywords = {Other},
            language = {en},
            title = {The Dawn of Gravitational Wave Astronomy},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2016},
            month = {may},
            note = {PIRSA:16050009 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

Chad Hanna Pennsylvania State University

DOI 10.48660/16050009
Collection
Talk Type Scientific Series
Subject

Abstract

100 years after the existence of gravitational waves was first postulated by Albert Einstein, the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations detected gravitational waves for the first time on September 14, 2015. The gravitational waves originated from a pair of black holes that merged over one billion years ago.  The merger was so powerful that it shook the very fabric of space and sent a ripple across the Universe that we observed here on Earth at present day. Although this event was but a blip in a sea of data taken by various experiments over the last several decades, it represents a paradigm shift in how we study our Universe.

In this colloquium, I will present some of the history of this great discovery and what it means for our future at the dawn of gravitational wave astronomy.