Related papers: Gravitational-wave Science in the High School Clas…
A world-wide array of highly sensitive interferometers stands poised to usher in a new era in astronomy with the first direct detection of gravitational waves. The data from these instruments will provide a unique perspective on extreme…
Multi-messenger astrophysics is a fast-growing, interdisciplinary field that combines data, which vary in volume and speed of data processing, from many different instruments that probe the Universe using different cosmic messengers:…
In the coming decade, gravitational waves will convert the study of general relativistic aspects of black holes and stars from a largely theoretical enterprise to a highly interactive, observational/theoretical one. For example,…
In this paper we introduce a hands-on activity in which introductory astronomy students act as gravitational wave astronomers by extracting information from simulated gravitational wave signals. The process mimics the way true gravitational…
At the beginning of a class or meeting an icebreaker activity is often used to help loosen the group and get everyone talking. Our motivation is to develop activities that serve the purpose of an icebreaker, but are designed to enhance and…
The focus of this Chapter is on describing the prospective sources of the gravitational wave universe accessible to present and future observations, from kHz, to mHz down to nano-Hz frequencies. The multi-frequency gravitational wave…
Gravitational-wave detectors on earth have detected gravitational waves from merging compact objects in the local Universe. In future we will detect gravitational waves from higher-redshift sources, which trace the high-redshift structure…
Recent advancements in gravitational wave astronomy hold the promise of a completely new way to explore our Universe. These lecture notes aim to provide a concise but self-contained introduction to key concepts of gravitational wave…
Precision pulsar timing at the level of tens to hundreds of nanoseconds allows detection of nanohertz gravitational waves (GWs) from supermassive binary black holes (SMBBHs) at the cores of merging galaxies and, potentially, from exotic…
Gravitational wave astronomy is an emerging observational discipline that expands the astrophysical messengers astronomers can use to probe cosmic phenomena. The gravitational waveform from a source encodes the astrophysical properties and…
Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime generated by the acceleration of astrophysical objects. A direct consequence of general relativity, they were first directly observed in 2015 by the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave…
Great physics breakthroughs are rarely included in the introductory physics or astronomy course. General relativity and binary black hole coalescence are no different, and can be included in the introductory course only in a very limited…
Gravitational wave detectors are already operating at interesting sensitivity levels, and they have an upgrade path that should result in secure detections by 2014. We review the physics of gravitational waves, how they interact with…
Gravitational-wave detectors with sensitivities sufficient to measure the radiation from astrophysical sources are rapidly coming into existence. By the end of this decade, there will exist several ground-based instruments in North America,…
Gravitational waves (GWs) are fluctuations in the fabric of spacetime predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity. Using a collection of millisecond pulsars as high-precision clocks, the nanohertz band of this radiation is likely…
The recently assembled laser-beam detectors of gravitational waves are approaching the planned level of sensitivity. In the coming 1 - 2 years, we may be observing the rare but powerful events of inspiral and merger of binary stellar-mass…
Since the very beginning of astronomy the location of objects on the sky has been a fundamental observational quantity that has been taken for granted. While precise two dimensional positional information is easy to obtain for observations…
Pulsar timing experiments are reaching sufficient sensitivity to detect a postulated stochastic gravitational wave background generated by merging supermassive black hole systems in the cores of galaxies. We describe the techniques behind…
Continuous gravitational waves are analogous to monochromatic light and therefore could be used to detect wave effects like interference or diffraction. This would be possible with strongly lensed gravitational waves. This article reviews…
It is widely expected that the coming decade will witness the first direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs). The ground-based LIGO and Virgo GW observatories are being upgraded to advanced sensitivity, and are expected to observe a…