BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Dr Jonathan Gair - Gravitational wave astronomy - a new window on 
 the Universe - Dr Jonathan Gair\, Institute of Astronomy\, Cambridge
DTSTART:20140210T200000Z
DTEND:20140210T210000Z
UID:TALK49997@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:35783
DESCRIPTION:The existence of gravitational waves -- small fluctuations in\
 ngravitational fields that propagate at the speed of light -- was\nshown t
 o be an inevitable consequence of general relativity more\nthan a century 
 ago\, but there have not yet been any direct\ndetections of these waves by
  man-made detectors. This will all\nchange spectacularly in the next decad
 e. A network of ground-based\ngravitational wave detectors -- LIGO\, GEO\,
  Virgo and TAMA -- has\nbeen constructed and these are presently being upg
 raded to a\nsensitivity at which the first gravitational wave detections a
 re\nlikely. There are ambitious plans for a space-based milli-Hertz\ngravi
 tational wave detector\, eLISA\, which should be launched in the\nnext ten
  to fifteen years and there are ongoing efforts to detect\ngravitational w
 aves using radio telescopes through the accurate\ntiming of networks of pu
 lsars. These forthcoming gravitational wave\nobservations will transform o
 ur understanding of the astrophysics of\nthe systems generating them and t
 he black holes that these systems\ntypically contain. Gravitational wave o
 bservations also have strong\npotential for fundamental physics\, as they 
 will enable us to make\nprecise tests of the theory of general relativity 
 in a hitherto\nunexplored regime. I will describe the current status of an
 d\nprospects for current and planned gravitational wave detection\nexperim
 ents\, I will discuss the likely sources of gravitational\nwaves for these
  instruments and outline some of the potential\nscientific applications of
  these observations to astrophysics\,\ncosmology and fundamental physics.\
 n\nThe talk is *free* for CUPS members\, *£2* for non-members\, and will 
 be followed by a wine reception.
LOCATION:Department of Pharmacology Lecture Theatre\, Tennis Court Road
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR