Center for Gravitational Wave Physics

Pennsylvania State Univ University Park, University Park PA

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports the formation of The Center for Gravitational Wave Physics. This Physics Frontier Center is devoted to development of gravitational wave phenomenology: the physics and astrophysics that can be explored by gravitational wave observations in all wavebands. It is organized in three tightly-linked Major Research Components: i) learning how to exploit the fundamentally new perspective that gravitational waves offer, when compared to electromagnetic observations; ii) using gravitational wave observations to test and contribute to the understanding of strong-field, dynamical gravity; and iii) developing modeling tools that combine detector and source science to provide quantitative assessments of the ``science reach'' of advanced detector designs. To achieve its goal of crystalizing the formation of this new field, the Center functions as a National Facility with a substantial visitor program; workshops, conferences and institutes devoted to critical research areas where the focused attention of experts can be expected to lead to breakthroughs or rapid advancements; and a substantial, interactive interface to Center activities (seminar, colloquia, workshops and research group meetings) for off-site Center members and program participants. The Center's education program emphasizes middle school children nationwide, through an affiliation with the educational public television program "What's In The News?". Three special programs form the core of its outreach program: to women, through its participation in the Women In Science and Engineering "Expanding Your Horizons" workshop (focused on grades 7--9) and the Women In Science and Engineering Research mentoring program (focused on first and second year undergraduate women), and to upper division and graduate Hispanic students, through a special liaison with the University of Texas, Brownsville. The forthcoming generation of ground and space-based gravitational wave detectors have unleashed exciting challenges and opportunities at the interface of general relativity, astrophysics, and experimental physics. The waves they will detect arise in strong, dynamical gravitational fields, offering the first opportunities to test the understanding of fully non-linear relativistic gravity. Simultaneously, the observations' astrophysical implications are likely to be novel, diverse and rich as they reveal the inner dynamics of processes hidden from electromagnetic astronomy: e.g., the collision of black holes in the center of a galaxy at high redshift. A new field of physics --- gravitational wave phenomenology --- is thus poised to emerge; however, lacking a tradition of large experiments, gravitational physics lacks also a community of phenomenologists ready to fully exploit the rich physics that the forthcoming observations offer. The Center for Gravitational Wave Physics provides the intellectual platform upon which existing expertise can be combined and focused in a synergistic manner, crystallizing the formation of a coherent, flourishing field that can fully realize the promise that gravitational wave observations hold.