General Physics Colloquium, Professor Saul Teukolsky

Refreshments from 3:30-3:50 pm

Title:  Testing General Relativity with LIGO

Host:  Csaba Csaki

Abstract:  General relativity is a very successful theory of gravity; so far no discrepancies with experiment are known. Yet at a fundamental level the theory is incomplete, since it does not include quantum effects. Modern attempts to make a quantum description of gravity predict small deviations from the predictions of general relativity.  The detection of gravitational waves from colliding black holes has opened up new possibilities for finally testing general relativity in the strong-field regime. I will describe how LIGO is already able to perform interesting tests. I will also discuss the future of such tests, both with ground-based and space-based detectors.