Listening in on Black Holes: What Advanced LIGO is about to hear

Document #:

LIGO-G1500426-v2

Document type:

G - Presentations (eg Graphics)

Abstract:

After decades of development, the Advanced LIGO gravitational wave detectors will commence observations later this year. By the time they reach design sensitivity before the end of the decade, we expect that they will be detecting signals from orbiting pairs of neutron stars and black holes. Gravitational waves will then be providing a whole new way of exploring the universe by “listening in” on the vibrations of spacetime. A key advantage of gravitational wave astronomy is its ability to target black holes and explore their dynamics. The talk will explain what gravitational waves are, what kind of technology is needed to detect them, and what kinds of objects Advanced LIGO is likely to detect.

Files in Document:

• Talk for Northeast Astronomy Forum 2015 (Listening in on Black Holes What Advanced LIGO is abou...pdf, 2.0 MB)

Other Files:

• NEAF 2015 talk in pptx format (Listening in on Black Holes What Advanced LIGO is abo...pptx, 27.6 MB)

Topics:

• Public Talk / Colloquium

Authors:

• Peter Saulson

Keywords:

outreach public lecture