Gravitational Wave Detection and Astrophysics

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This award supports research focused on three areas related to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Experiment: 1) detailed detector characterization of the interferometers; 2) commissioning of the two Hanford interferometers to advance them beyond initial design sensitivity; and 3) carrying out an all-sky search for periodic sources of gravitational waves. The work to be carried out thus includes both improving detector performance and searching for evidence of undiscovered, electromagnetically quiet, rotating neutron stars in our galaxy.Discovery of gravitational waves from astrophysical objects will mark a major milestone in science, simultaneously confirming one of the fundamental predictions of gravitational physics, while opening up an entirely new field of astronomy. The detection of such waves from rotating neutron stars would be especially interesting because many such sources are expected to continue emitting for long periods of time, allowing follow-up investigations with increasing precision, and because it is believed that these waves will provide insight into the poorly known structure of these exotic stars. The research to be carried out, on both the instruments and their data, will provide training to undergraduate and graduate studentsin state-of-the-art science at the frontier of knowledge.