Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Broadband Measurement And Reduction Of Quantum Radiation Pressure Noise In The Audio Band, Jonathan Daniel Cripe

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

One hundred years after Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in his general theory of relativity, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) made the first direct detection of gravitational waves. Since the first detection of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger, LIGO has gone on to detect gravitational waves from multiple binary black hole mergers, and more recently from a binary neutron star merger in collaboration with telescopes around the world. The detection of gravitational waves has opened a new window to the universe and has launched the era of gravitational wave astronomy.

With the first …

Search For Compact Object Coalescences And Understanding Their Significance Using Data From Advanced Ligo, Debnandini Mukherjee

Theses and Dissertations

Gravitational waves were observed for the first time on September 14, 2015. A 36 and a 29 solar mass black holes were seen to inspiral around each other and merge about 410 Mpc away. This gave momentum to the areas of gravitational wave astrophysics and astronomy. While the universe could be perceived in the electromagnetic spectrum so far, enabling us to "see" it with telescopes, it could now be "listened to" using gravitational waves. Also, black holes being optically dark, could be observed directly for the very first time after this discovery. The 100 year old theory of General Relativity …