Syracuse - Experimental Relativity
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Experimental research in gravitational physics is the main interest of
Peter Saulson,
who has
worked on detectors of gravitation waves for the
past decade. The start of construction of the Laser Interferometer
Gravitational Wave Obsevatory
(LIGO) promises
a real chance at confirming the existence of these waves. This would
provide not only a new check of general relativity, but also open a new and
dramatically distinct observational window for astronomy.
Saulson's research is focused in two areas. For the past ten years, the main focus has been on techniques for constructing good approximations to freely falling masses, the ideal test bodies of gravitation theory. For gravitational wave inteferometers, this means building pendulums with extremely small mechanical loss in order to minimize the Brownian motion of the macroscopic test masses. Now that LIGO is starting to take data, the group is building up its involvement in data analysis. Saulson co-chairs the LIGO Scientific Collaboration's search for bursts of gravitational waves. The group's focus will be on ways to identify bursts in the data, and on ways to be sure that other disturbances to the interferometers didn't cause a spurious signal to appear.
Saulson's group currently includes post-doctoral associate Sasha Ageev, and
graduate students Scott Kittelberger and Josh Dalrymple.
Recent undergraduates working in the lab include Joshua Smith and Emily Watkins.
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This page is maintained by Rob Salgado, salgado@physics.syr.edu Last modified: January, 2003