Scott Hughes, Professor of Physics
| Jan/12 | Tue | 01:15PM-02:00PM | Marlar Lounge 37-252 |
Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Prereq: none
Advanced LIGO is on the cusp of using gravitational waves as a tool for observing the universe. What are gravitational waves, and how do we use them to observe the universe? I will describe how gravitational waves are produced by violent and interesting astronomical events, and why they are especially useful for teaching us about those events. I will emphasize that these waves are analogous to sound, and will illustrate how we learn from them with some examples of what theory tells us certain interesting example gravitational waves “sound like” to the “ears” of a detector like LIGO.
Please note: two related activities will follow Professor Hughes' presentation.
Searching for Gravitational Waves with LIGO (Dr. Adam Libson, 2:00 - 2:30pm in 37-252)
Tour of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) Lab (Dr. Adam Libson, 2:30 - 4:00pm departing from 37-252).
***Note***
10 people maximum for the LIGO Lab tour. You must attend both talks preceding the tour (Scott Hughes' talk at 1:15pm and Adam Libson's talk at 2:00pm). Advance sign-up required for the tour, starting at 1:05pm immediately before Professor Hughes' talk in 37-252. Attendance of talks is required in order to take tour of LIGO lab. Tour will leave from 37-252 at 2:30pm, and last until about 4:00pm.
See all of MKI's IAP offerings here
Sponsor(s): Kavli Institute for Astrophysics & Space Research
Contact: Debbie Meinbresse, 37-241, 617 253-1456, MEINBRES@MIT.EDU