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SUMMARY:Listening to the chirps: how do the LIGO results test general rela
 tivity? - Lydia Patton (Virginia Tech)
DTSTART:20170524T120000Z
DTEND:20170524T133000Z
UID:TALK72555@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:31287
DESCRIPTION:LIGO's detection of gravitational waves is one of the most \ns
 ignificant recent experimental results in physics.  But moving from the \n
 data to conclusions about the parameters of the binary black hole (BBH) \n
 systems that are the data's putative source is not trivial.  And it is \nb
 y means of parameter estimation that the real test of general \nrelativity
  will take place.  Many current presentations of the LIGO \nresults focus 
 on how the detection confirms general relativity\, or \nEinstein's predict
 ions.  But ideally the detection of BBH systems should \nprovide a heurist
 ic platform for further research\, and for ever more \nrigorous testing of
  the theory.  I explain how the results can be taken \nto decide between N
 ewtonian theory and GR. But I also argue that \nexisting ways of parsing t
 he observed data could go farther to provide a \nplatform for testing. Fin
 ally\, the paper explores ways of analyzing the \nLIGO results to draw con
 clusions about how theories can be robust in \napplied contexts.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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