University Calendar
Physics & Astronomy Seminar: Cosmology Using Gravitational Waves
Speaker: Prof Shaon Ghosh, Montclair State University
Title: Cosmology using gravitational waves
Date: Wednesday, November 9, 2022
Time: 12:00pm
Location: Richardson Hall 256
Abstract:
The detection of gravitational waves has opened a new window to study the universe. One of the prime examples of this is in the field of cosmology, the study of the universe at the largest scales. It is a well-known fact in cosmology that the universe is expanding. This expansion is however not uniform--farther objects are racing away faster from us than nearer objects. This is called the accelerated expansion of the universe. The velocity with which cosmic objects are racing away from us follows a simple relationship, known as Hubble's law. This relationship is dictated by a constant known as the Hubble constant. In this talk, I will be providing background on the observations that have led to the measurement of the Hubble constant, and how this quantity can now be measured using gravitational waves. I will not be assuming any knowledge of astrophysics or cosmology in my talk and will present how the understanding of the universe historically improved. In the end, I will talk about the advanced computational techniques used in the analysis of data. No knowledge of computational physics will be required to understand this discussion.