Gravitation physics and relativistic astrophysics

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This award funds theoretical research in several different topics in relativistic astrophysics and general relativity, with a focus on sources of gravitational radiation that might be detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) and by the proposed space based detector, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). The principal topics are: (A) the development and implementation of methods to compute the gravitational signals from stars or small black holes inspiralling into large spinning black holes; (B) the assessment of the importance of backreaction effects in cosmology, in order to show definitively that they cannot explain the observed acceleration of the expansion of the Universe; and (C) computing the experimental constraints on various alternative theories of gravity that have been proposed as explanations for the Universe's acceleration.The research on development of computational methods for gravitational waveforms will eventually have a significant impact on gravitational wave astronomy, by facilitating the detection and analysis of gravitational wave signals, from which we can learn about properties of black holes. Education and training of graduate and undergraduate students will be integrated into the research program.