Interstellar wave catcher to speak at Monash
An illustration of gravitational waves. Credit: NASA
Almost 100 years after Einstein predicted their existence, scientists are getting close to actually detecting the ripples in the fabric of space and time, known as gravitational waves.
Gravitational wave astrophysicist, Dr Paul Lasky of The University of Melbourne, will discuss the billion dollar search for these waves, why it's important, and his part in it, at the Monash Centre for Astrophysics (MoCA) public lecture on Thursday.
Dr Lasky, who completed his Bachelor of Science and PhD at Monash is a member of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration which is inching closer to obtaining direct evidence of the waves’ existence.
Lecture organiser, Dr David Floyd of MoCA said LIGO expected to find gravitational waves on or before the 100th anniversary of the publication of the theory of general relativity in 2015.
"Gravitational waves are this mysterious phenomenon that comes out of Einstein's theory. They're vibrations created by the motion of massive things in space, such as black holes and neutron stars, but they're drowned out by the noise and vibrations of earthquakes and human activity here on Earth," Dr Floyd said.
"Once we find them, it will give us a completely new way of looking at the cosmos. It will open up new fields of research and shed light on major events like the creation and growth of black holes.
"It's very exciting to have someone like Paul, who's a specialist in gravitational waves, and actively involved in LIGO, to deliver the next lecture."
LIGO aims to detect gravitational waves using a detector called a laser interferometer. The interferometers are being upgraded to 10 times as sensitive as part of a project known as Advanced LIGO. It is expected they will then have the capacity to detect gravitational waves… Unless something is terribly wrong with Einstein’s theory.
Dr Paul Lasky will speak at 6.30pm Thursday 21 June in Lecture Theatre S3, Monash University Clayton campus. For further information see the MoCA website.