Yearly Archives: 2017

So long, and thanks for all the manuscripts

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Adam Day

Adam Day is the Publisher of Classical and Quantum Gravity

Years ago, I sat, somewhat nervously, in a small, dimly lit room in an old office block. I’d applied for a dream job and I was expecting to learn the outcome of that application. A senior member of staff tactfully began the meeting with some friendly small-talk that did absolutely nothing to calm my nerves.

I’d heard of CQG – even before I’d seen the job advert. Reputed for its high standards of peer-review, it also held the distinction of being the first physics journal on the web. Clearly, this was a journal for brilliant pioneers and innovators (submit here) and I wanted to be part of that. Furthermore, I’d enjoyed studying relativity as an undergraduate and had hoped to become a gravitational-wave researcher, so the science of CQG was already close to my heart.  I can’t even remember the colour of the walls in that old office, but I can still hear the words “I’d like to offer you the job” very clearly.

Looking back Continue reading →

Pulsed Gravitational Waves

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timothyjwalton

Timothy J. Walton occupies some quantum state between a physicist and a mathematician, having obtained his PhD from the physics department at Lancaster University in 2008 but now masquerading as a lecturer in mathematics at the University of Bolton.

by Timothy J. Walton.

Applying techniques from classical electrodynamics to generate new gravitational wave perturbations

I must begin with a confession: I don’t view myself as a gravitational physicist. Despite my PhD at Lancaster University involving a formulation of relativistic elasticity and an awful lot of differential geometry, my research thus far has been within the realm of classical and quantum electrodynamics. But it was precisely within that domain, along one particular avenue of investigation, where the first seeds of an idea were sown. Following my earlier work on a class of exact finite energy, spatially compact solutions to the vacuum source-free Maxwell equations – pulsed electromagnetic waves – describing single cycle pulses of laser light [1], together with Shin Goto at Kyoto University in Japan and my former PhD supervisor Robin Tucker at Lancaster University, a new question arose: “do pulsed gravitational waves exist?’’

As I recall, this question was posed and began to take root during one of the regular meetings I have with Robin. Within my institution, I am fortunate enough Continue reading →

Quantum mechanics meets CMB physics

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by Massimo Giovannini.

massimo-giovannini

Since 1991 Massimo Giovannini has extensively researched, taught and written on high-energy physics, gravitation and cosmology. He wrote over 180 papers and various review articles. He is the author of a book entitled “A primer on the physics of Cosmic Microwave Background” published in 2008.

Which is the origin of the temperature and polarization anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background? Classical or quantum? The temperature and the polarization anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) are customarily explained in terms of large-scale curvature inhomogeneities. Are curvature perturbations originally classical or are they inherently quantum mechanical, as speculated many years ago by Sakharov?

In the conventional view these questions are quickly dismissed since the quantum origin of large-scale curvature fluctuations is, according to some, an indisputable fact of nature. This is true if and when Continue reading →

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.

Continue reading →

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.

 

 

Continue reading →

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 →