ligo

Trying to catch gravitational waves

March 16, 2011

Category: A Closer Look

Tags: CSU Dominguez Hills, CSU East Bay, CSU Fullerton, LIGO, physics, research, San Jose State

Not waiting for a supernova, CSU researchers focus on mirrors

Theoretically, Albert Einstein is a physics icon. So… It doesn’t matter.  His theories still get double- and triple-checked.

For example, to confirm Einstein’s general theory of relativity, astrophysicists by the score, including some in the CSU, keep trying to spot – if only for a millisecond – gravitational waves.  As yet, none has.

Among those contributing to the effort are CSU Fullerton’s Joshua Smith and his students. Along with several others in the CSU, they have been part of an international search party of physicists – called the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO). Read more »