Black Holes, Gravitational Waves and Radiation Reaction

在过去的30年里，在无数星系的中心观察到了超大质量黑洞(太阳质量的数百万倍或数十亿倍)。许多恒星围绕这些黑洞运行，并发出引力辐射，导致恒星向内螺旋，最终被超大质量黑洞吞噬。引力辐射的特性，无论是来自恒星的激发辐射，还是来自恒星的最终坠落，都将在理论上得到确定。对未来引力辐射观测数据的分析将提供对强大引力场、星系中心的恒星和超大质量黑洞本身的巨大洞察和理解。我们在宇宙中的位置只能通过物理学和天文学来研究。这些基础科学吸引了最优秀、最聪明的学生的注意。随着他们亲眼目睹数学加上仔细的实验或观察如何推动黑洞和引力辐射等引人入胜的科学领域的进步，这些最优秀和最聪明的人将成为科学和工业的下一代领导者。

In the past thirty years super-massive black holes (millions or billions of times the mass of our sun) have been observed in the centers of numerous galaxies. Many stars orbit these black holes and emit gravitational radiation which causes the star to spiral inward and eventually to be swallowed by the super-massive black hole. The characteristics of the gravitational radiation, from both the inspiral and the eventual in-fall of a star, will be theoretically determined. The analysis of data from future gravitational radiation observations will then provide tremendous insight and understanding of strong gravitational fields, the stars in the centers of galaxies and the super-massive black hole itself.Our place in the universe can only be studied via physics and astronomy. These fundamental sciences catch the attention of the best and the brightest of students. As they see for themselves how mathematics coupled with careful experiments or observations drives the progress in fascinating areas of science, such as black holes and gravitational radiation, these best and brightest will become the next generation of leaders in science and industry.