Hamburg Photon Science Colloquium | Gravitational waves: extreme astrophysics by the attometer

by David Reitze (LIGO Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, USA)

Friday 15 Dec 2017, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Berlin

CFEL, Bldg. 99 (DESY Hamburg)

The first direct detections of gravitational waves emitted by pairs of colliding black holes were made possible by a decades long campaign to design, build, and operate LIGO. This talk will present an overview of gravitational-wave astrophysics, describe the LIGO detectors, and provide some insights into the astrophysical implications of the detections. Finally, I’ll present plans for building even more sensitive gravitational wave detectors in the next decade.