Binary Pulsars and Relativistic Gravity

Binary Pulsars and Relativistic Gravity
Joseph Taylor, Princeton University
Picture of Joseph Taylor
Date and time: Wed, Oct 11, 2017 - 4:00pm
Refreshments at 3:45pm
Location: Hasbrouck 134
Category: Departmental Colloquium
Abstract:

The 1974 discovery of binary pulsar PSR B1913+16 led to the dedicated development of much more accurate pulsar timing instrumentation and techniques.  Early results from this work, much of it carried out at UMass, motivated further theoretical work to clear up quantitative questions about gravitational waves in General Relativity.  By the late 1980s, measured orbital dynamics of the binary pulsar were shown to be in quantitative agreement with GR, including energy losses via gravitational radiation.  This experimental proof was surely a prerequisite for the 1992 funding of LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory.  After nearly another quarter century, in 2015 LIGO achieved the first direct detection of gravitational waves.

Along the way, I'll share some reflections on the UMass Department of Physics and Astronomy during the years 1968-1980.