Event Description
Amber Stuver, PhD, Villanova University
Albert
Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves, ripples on space-time
propagating from accelerating masses, in 1916. 100 years later, the Laser
Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) announced the first
detection of a gravitational wave from two stellar-mass black holes that
coalesced 1.3 billion years ago. Since then, there have been a handful of
detections, each its own first in science. In 2017, a gravitational wave was
detected less than 2 seconds before a gamma-ray burst was detected from the
same area on the sky. This led over 70 observatories, from around the Earth and
orbiting it, to observe the light from this same event. This unprecedented
collaboration in astronomy provided evidence to show that short gamma-ray bursts
can be made by the coalescence of neutron star binaries. Today, there are
dozens confirmed and candidate detentions of gravitational wave which is
further revealing the universe to us through the new field of gravitational
wave astronomy.
This colloquium will discuss what gravitational waves are, how they are
detected, and a summary of the new insights learned through gravitational wave
astronomy. |