Astronomy & Astrophysics

Contents

• Australian International Gravitational Research Centre
• Cosmological Gravitational Wave Backgrounds
• Pulsar Astrophysics

Australian International Gravitational Research Centre

B Slagmolen, Prof. D G Blair, Dr Ju Li, Dr C Zhao and J Jacob 

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The University of Western Australia has been prominent from the early stages of gravitational radiation research and is well placed to play a significant role in the development of the next generation of long baseline laser interferometers (the US Advanced LIGO).  Laboratories at UWA and at the Australian International Gravitational Observatory are testing vibration isolation techniques, laser stabilisation systems, high power lasers, advanced laser interferometry systems and control systems.

Cosmological Gravitational Wave Backgrounds

Dr D M Coward, Dr R R Burman and Prof. D G Blair

The  project is based on modeling and simulating one of the most exciting and least studied gravitational wave spectrums, the Astrophysical Gravitational wave Background (AGB), to be detected by Advanced LIGO. It will extend the existing experimental and data analysis Australia-US collaboration in Advanced LIGO to include modelling, simulation and detection methods of the AGB and the study of the optical noise in LIGO and Advanced LIGO type systems.

In recent years it has become clear that the gravitational wave spectrum must include two stochastic background components, one, the Cosmological Gravitational wave Background (CGB), which would probe the Universe at about 10^-22 s after the big bang, and a second one, the Astrophysical Gravitational wave Background (AGB) which probes the era from redshift z ~ 100-0.1. The very early CGB component is uncertain since its amplitude strongly depends on early Universe processes that include phase transitions, formation of cosmic strings, inflation and phase transition driven vacuum bubbles. In contrast, the AGB includes known sources of gravitational waves (neutron star coalescences) and others for which extensive modelling efforts have provided a range of plausible predictions.

Pulsar Astrophysics

Dr R R Burman