Unpacking Gravitational WavesPhysics Matters 2018 – Ben Dringoli

Table of Contents

Then and Now

Beginnings

Theories

Experiments

Interferometers

The Discovery

Post-Discovery

03

Introduction: Then and Now

0510-5 1915-1918

0610-21 2016

Beginnings: Theories

Poincare

0810-5 1905

“Dear Sir,We (Mr. Rosen and I) had sent you our manuscript for publication and had not authorized you to show it to specialists before it is printed. I see no reason to address the—in any case erroneous—comments of your anonymous expert. On the basis of this incident I prefer to publish the paper elsewhere.”

091936

“I was surprised to find that a whole day of the conference was spent on this issue and that ‘experts’ were confused. That’s what happens when one is considering energy conservation tensors, etc. instead of questioning, can waves do work?” – Richard Feynmann

101957

Beginnings: Experiments

121958-1960’s

1310-16 1969

1410-16 1970-1975

Interferometers

1610-14 1962-1970’s

17

18

191968-1970’s

201975-1990’s

211996

The Discovery

23~10-18 2002-2010

2410-23 2015

24

2610-23 2015-2018

The World Post-Gravitational Waves

282016-20??

“What is now proved was once only imagin’d”-William Blake

29

Thank You! Questions?

References and Further ReadingPhoto Credits:

LIGO CalTechVIRGOTom MahoodMarkus HankeWolfram LLCJody MuelanerBrittanicaChristopher BerryETH-Bibliothek Zürich, BildarchivIdaho Regional Optical NetworkSimulating eXtreme Spacetimes

Additional Resources:

Wikipedia(great for general concepts and definitions)

LIGO Official Site: www.ligo.caltech.edu(stay up to date on new events!)

arXiv: arxiv.org(open-access portal for journal/review articles)

Nature: nature.com(often has good news & views summaries of fields)

INSPIREWikipediaJ.F. LanghansCompetitive ExamPearson LLCTIMEPaige Jarreau