Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Joint Astrophysics Seminar

Detecting Gravitational-Waves with Interferometers

Nergis Mavalvala

MIT

As the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) and its international counterparts have completed their first scientific data runs, we enter an exciting new era of gravitational wave astronomy. I will give a broad introduction to gravitational waves, potential astrophysical sources and their detection with terrestrial interferometers. The present status and some recent results from LIGO will be followed by a discussion of future enhancements and the path to higher sensitivity next-generation detectors.