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Full-Text Articles in Cosmology, Relativity, and Gravity
Gravitational Wave Astrophysics: Instrumentation, Detector Characterization, And A Search For Gravitational Signals From Gamma-Ray Bursts, Daniel Hoak
Doctoral Dissertations
In the coming years, the second generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors are widely expected to observe the gravitational radiation emitted by compact, energetic events in the nearby universe. The field of gravitational wave astrophysics has grown into a large international endeavor with a global network of kilometer-scale observatories. The work presented in this thesis spans the field, from optical metrology, to instrument commissioning, to detector characterization and data analysis. The principal results are a method for the precise characterization of optical cavities, the commissioning of the advanced LIGO Output Mode Cleaner at the Hanford observatory, and a search for …
Exact Solutions In Gravity: A Journey Through Spacetime With The Kerr-Schild Ansatz, Benjamin Ett
Exact Solutions In Gravity: A Journey Through Spacetime With The Kerr-Schild Ansatz, Benjamin Ett
Doctoral Dissertations
The Kerr-Schild metric ansatz can be expressed in the form $g_{ab} = \gbar_{ab}+\lambda k_ak_b$, where $\gbar_{ab}$ is a background metric satisfying Einstein's equations, $k_a$ is a null-vector, and $\lambda$ is a free parameter. It was discovered in 1963 while searching for the elusive rotating black hole solutions to Einstein's equations, fifty years after the static solution was found and Einstein first formulated his theory of general relativity. While the ansatz has proved an excellent tool in the search for new exact solutions since then, its scope is limited, particularly with respect to higher dimensional theories. In this thesis, we present …