Servicenavigation

Project Details

Back

Projekt Print View

TRR 7:  Gravitational Wave Astronomy

Subject Area Physics
Term from 2003 to 2014
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5485423
 
Final Report Year 2015

Final Report Abstract

Gravitational Wave Astronomy stands for the ambitious scientific endeavor to extend our current astronomy, which is largely based on the analysis of electromagnetic waves, by including gravitational wave signals as sources of information about the universe, thereby utilizing one more of the fundamental interactions for astronomical observation. This new window onto the universe will soon contribute in a significant and unique manner to our understanding of such important astrophysical phenomena as black hole collisions, neutron star dynamics, and supernova explosions, making many of the involved physical processes accessible to scientific analysis for the very first time. Gravitational wave astronomy is a topic of Einstein’s theory of gravitation, general relativity, which has been highly successful in its applications in astrophysics, astronomy, cosmology and celestial mechanics. The focus of the collaborative research center (CRC), the SFB/TR7, was on the theoretical and experimental investigation of gravitational waves and their astrophysical sources. The SFB/TR7 played a leading international role in the great theoretical effort that necessarily had to accompany the work on the detectors. The experiments make use of the theoretical predictions for the gravitational wave forms to guide the search for signals in the detector noise, and each potential source of gravitational radiation, say the merger of black holes or the inspiral of compact binaries, requires its own physical model to make predictions possible. Anticipating detection, methods were prepared to extract information about the astrophysical origin of the gravitational waves, allowing insight into the physical processes at the source. Source modelling and signal analysis required the close collaboration of theoretical and experimental physicists. The direct measurement of the gravitational wave signals poses an extreme challenge for experimental physics, and so far detection of gravitational waves has not been achieved. The SFB/TR7 did not fund gravitational wave detectors per se, however such detectors already existed or were constructed in the form of several large, international collobarations, in particular the laser interferometers LIGO (USA), VIRGO (Italy/France), GEO600 (Germany/Great Britain), and TAMA (Japan). Many of the results of the SFB/TR7 link into the construction and operation of the first generation of gravitational wave detectors during 2003–2014. Furthermore, the SFB/TR7 made key contributions towards the science and technology of the second and even third generation of detectors. Hence, at the end of 2014 we are ready for Advanced LIGO and VIRGO, which are expected to start operation in 2015 and 2016 with greatly enhanced sensitivity. Given the recent progress, the first detection of gravitational waves is expected rather soon, probably within the next three to five years when the new generation of detectors reaches design sensitivity. Working jointly towards the grand goal of gravitational wave astronomy were experimental and theoretical physicists, astrophysicists and mathematicians from the Universities of Jena, Tübingen, and Hannover as well as from the Max Planck Institutes for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam/Hannover and for Astrophysics in Garching. The SFB/TR7 achieved its goal to build a community of researchers in Germany that can contribute to and benefit from the international efforts. The established collaboration of 80 scientists (about 50 principal investigators and staff, about 30 positions funded) had a very positive effect on the education of young researchers in Germany. The participating sites were enabled to educate the future leaders in this attractive and highly promising area of gravitational physics and relativistic astrophysics.

Publications

 
 

Additional Information

© 2024 DFG Disclaimer / Copyright / Privacy Policy

Textvergrößerung und Kontrastanpassung