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SUMMARY:Advanced LIGO: Gravitational-wave astronomy and binary neutron sta
 rs - Christopher Berry (Birmingham)
DTSTART:20150601T120000Z
DTEND:20150601T130000Z
UID:TALK59688@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Tommaso Giannantonio
DESCRIPTION:Advanced LIGO will make its first observations in 2015. Over t
 he next few years\, its sensitivity will increase and it is expected to ma
 ke the first direct detection of gravitational waves. The will mark the be
 ginning of gravitational-wave astronomy. In this talk\, I will give a brie
 f overview of gravitational-wave astronomy\, introducing pulsar timing arr
 ays and space-borne detection\, before concentrating on ground-based detec
 tors and Advanced LIGO. While both pulsar timing arrays and space-borne de
 tectors are most sensitive to the mergers of supermassive black holes\, gr
 ound-based detectors are sensitive to stellar-mass systems. Binary neutron
  stars are anticipated to be the main source for Advanced LIGO\, and I wil
 l discuss what we hope to learn from these observations\; in particular\, 
 the expected accuracy of mass and position measurements in 2015. The latte
 r is particularly important when searching for an electromagnetic counterp
 art to the gravitational-wave signal\, which may help us understand the or
 igins of short gamma-ray bursts. While mass measurements can be precise\, 
 position measurements have large uncertainties\, which will make combining
  electromagnetic and gravitational-wave observations challenging.
LOCATION:CMS\, Pav. B\, CTC Common Room (B1.19) [Potter Room]
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