Monthly Archives: January 2017

Pushing post-Newtonian theory even further!

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by Tanguy Marchand, Luc Blanchet and Guillame Faye.

With the spectacular discoveries by the LIGO/VIRGO collaboration of gravitational waves from the coalescence of black-hole binaries, we foresee the possibility of extremely accurate measurements of the so-called post-Newtonian (PN) coefficients that describe the gravitational waveform of these systems in the inspiral phase prior to the final coalescence. The PN coefficients are especially important because they probe the non-linear structure of general relativity (GR) and provide thus very constraining tests of this theory. In turn, they permit accurate measurements of the physical parameters of the binary, essentially the mass of the compact objects and their moment of rotation or spin.

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Highlights of 2016 now free to read 

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By Clifford Will.

Clifford Will

Clifford Will is the Editor-in-Chief of Classical and Quantum Gravity, Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Florida, Chercheur Associé at the Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, and James McDonnell Professor of Space Sciences Emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis.

I am delighted to present the CQG Highlights of 2016 which are now free to read.  This prestigious annual collection is selected by the editorial board and includes notable papers on gravitational waves, black holes, general relativity, cosmology, quantum gravity and more.

As well as being free to read on the web, each paper is promoted by the journal in a number of campaigns.  Watch for the CQG Highlights brochure at your next conference.

CQG Highlights remains one of CQG’s most popular promotions.  Don’t miss your chance to be included in CQG Highlights of 2017 by publishing your next great paper in CQG.

 

 

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Want to crush a singularity? First make it strong and then …

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by Parampreet Singh.

Parampreet Singh

Parampreet Singh with a young student who often asks him the most difficult and so far unanswerable questions on the resolution of singularities. Dr Parampreet Singh is Associate Professor at Department of Physics and Astronomy at Louisiana State University.

Einstein’s theory of classical general relativity breaks down when spacetime curvature
becomes extremely large near the singularities. To answer the fundamental questions
about the origin of our Universe or what happens at the central singularity of the black holes thus lies beyond the validity of Einstein’s theory. Our research deals with discovering the framework which guarantees resolution of singularities.

It has been long expected that quantum gravitational effects tame the classical singularities leading to insights on the above questions. A final theory of quantum gravity is not yet there but the underlying techniques can be used to understand whether quantum gravitational effects resolve cosmological and black hole singularities. Our goal is Continue reading →

Tilting laser beams in LISA

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by Michael Tröbs.

Michael Troebs in the lab

Michael Tröbs in the lab. Michael Tröbs is an experimental physicist at Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (AEI). The LISA optical bench test bed was built in collaboration with Airbus DS and University of Glasgow. At AEI Michael is responsible for the project.

A testbed to experimentally investigate tilt-to-length coupling for LISA, a gravitational-wave detector in space.

The planned space-based gravitational-wave detector LISA will consist of three satellites in a triangle with million kilometer long laser arms. This constellation will orbit the Sun, following the Earth. LISA is expected to be laser shot-noise limited in its most sensitive frequency band (in the Millihertz range). The second largest contribution to the noise budget is the coupling from laser beam tilt to the interferometric length measurement, which we will call tilt-to-length (TTL) coupling in the following.

How does tilt-to-length coupling come about? Continue reading →

Setting space on fire

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by Yasaman K. Yazdi and Niayesh Afshordi.

Niayesh Afshordi and Yasaman Yazdi discover that firewalls have consequences

Niayesh Afshordi and Yasaman Yazdi discover that firewalls have consequences. Yasaman K. Yazdi is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Niayesh Afshordi is an associate professor at the University of Waterloo and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

Thought experiments highlight the edge of our understanding of our theories.  Sometimes, however, we can get so caught up in heated debates about the solution to a thought experiment, that we may forget that we are talking about physical objects, and that an actual experiment or observation may give the answer.  In this Insight we discuss a proposed solution to the black hole information puzzle, and a possible observational signal that might confirm it.

 

The black hole information puzzle and a potential solution

The black hole information loss problem is a decades old problem that highlights the tensions between some of the pillars of modern theoretical physics. It has evolved from being Continue reading →

Happy new year!

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By Clifford Will.

Clifford Will

Clifford Will is the Editor-in-Chief of Classical and Quantum Gravity, Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Florida, Chercheur Associé at the Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, and James McDonnell Professor of Space Sciences Emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis.

What a year for gravitational physics!  In February, the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations (LVC) announced the first detection of gravitational waves.  The MICROSCOPE satellite test of the equivalence principle took to the skies in April and, in June, LISA Pathfinder surpassed all expectations in demonstrating the key technologies required to detect gravitational waves in space.  As if all that wasn’t enough, the LVC announced a second detection of a binary black hole merger later that month.  By September, NASA revealed that it would rejoin ESA in funding the LISA mission with a view to launching a 3-armed space interferometer by 2030.  Could we have wished for more?

CQG launched a focus issue on the topic of gravitational waves in 2016 edited by Peter Shawhan and Deirdre Shoemaker.  You can submit your next great paper on gravitational waves to the issue which is currently open to submissions and will be promoted in a number of channels throughout 2017.  All submissions will be subject to CQG’s usual high standard of peer review.

To keep track of the latest CQG publications and news in 2017, you can follow the CQG+ blog or follow the journal on social media (Twitter, Facebook).

I want to express my appreciation to all CQG authors, referees and readers who supported the journal in 2016.  I particularly wish to thank the journal’s Editorial Board Members and Advisory Panel Members who assist in directing the strategy of the journal and who oversee CQG’s peer review.  I also welcome new Board and Panel members to CQG. I look forward to working with all of you in the coming year.

With the LIGO detectors’ second observation run underway, I am certain that we have more to look forward to in 2017. Continue reading →